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REV. JOHN L. SMITH, D. D. 






a 



INDIANA METHODISM, 

A Series of Sketches and Incidents, Grave 

and Humorous Concerning Preachers 

and People of the West 

WITH .5^:ilT 

APPENDIX 

CONTAINING PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS 

PUBLIC ADDRESSES and OTHER 

MISCELLANY 




JOHN L. 'SMITH, D. D. 

OF THE NORTHWEST INDIANA CONFERENCE, 

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

For Fifty-five Years a Methodist Preacher. 

•*TA>Xi£>JLS.lL± l &0, I05TX3. 

1392. 



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Copyright, 1892. 
By John L. Smith. 
.-/// rights reserved. 



REV. It. D. T3TTER, A. M. 



AUTHOR S PREFACE. 

The Northwest Indiana Conference, at 
South Bend, Indiana, (1891) requested me "to pre- 
pare a history of Indiana Methodism." 

While in my deliberate judgment, I dared not at- 
tempt to assume the dignity of the historian, yet, in 
loyal respect to the wishes of my brethren, I have 
"done what I could." 

Four years' service in the Indiana Conference, 
eight years in the North Indiana, and forty years in 
the Northwest Indiana Conference — having never 
transferred. — I have endeavored, in the following 
pages ; wherever my lot fell, to speak of revivals, 
sketch character, and dot down incidents by the 
way — among both people and preachers. 

In all I have written, it has been my studied aim, 
not only to be just, but generous to all. 

And now, so near life's "sunset," I would rather 
be "dull, than bitter," and so, if in the characteriza- 
tion of any brother, my ideal in this respect has not 
been reached, I am still happy in the reflection that 
even my "failings leaned to virtue's side." 

J. L. S. 



List of Illustrations, 



Rev. JOHN L. SMITH, d. d , 

Rev. R. D. UTTER, a. m., 

Rev. Bishop E. R. AMES, d. d., 

Rev. S. T. COOPER, 

Rev. Bishop MATTHEW SIMPSON, D. D. 

Rev. J. VY. T. McMULLEN, d. d., 

Rev. J. H. HULL, 

Rev. C. C. McCABE, d. d., 

Rev. CHARLES X. SIMS, d. d. li.. d. 



Fjw 






Page i 




IO 




264 


. LI 


• i>-, 37 ^ 




- 39° 




44^ 




454 




464 



Ill 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

Virginia — Childhood— Birth and parentage — Grandparents — Rise 
of Methodism in the old dominion — Robert Williams — Preachers at 
Norfolk — Mob — Grandfather commands the peace — Press gang — 
Grandfather converted — Liberates slaves — First class formed — Bishop 
Asbury — Brunswick county — Ohio — Conversion — Call to preach — 
Mother teaching theology — -License to exhort — First public service — 
Thomas Owen — John Loyd — G. B. Owen reclaimed — Rev. J. B. 
Finley — Licensed to preach — Wilmington circuit — Father Babby — - 
Mother Fortner — Boy converted. 

Pages 13 to 28 

CHAPTER II. 

Ohio Campmeeting — 1 837-1840 — Preaches as an exhorter — Uncle 
Billy Rowe- -Moses Trader — Samuel Clarke — Pulpit failure — Brother 
Rowe exhorts — Effect on the people. 

Pages 28 to 35 

CHAPTER III. 

Local preacher —Reaches Indiana — 1840 — Horseback — Mississin- 
awa river — Meets John H. Hull — Presiding elder Burns — Brother 
Hull's assistant — Muncie town, now Muncey — Old settlers — Moors 
school house — Political excitement — John Life — two days meeting — 
Conversion of Mrs. Life — Half-way Creek — Campbells Creek — Camp 
meeting — Preachers in attendance — Rowdies — Climbs a tree — Fourth 
quarterly conference — Junior preacher recommended — Missionary 
tour — Singular case of immersion — Bluffton — Limberlcss and Loblolly 
— Camp meeting — Right hand road — A surprise — The old farm — 
Half-breed squaw — Husband tells his story — Meeting at brother 
Jackson's— Letter postage — Cash reported — The people did well. 

P*ges 35 to 54 



IV 

CHAPTER IV. 

Bishop Soule — Presiding elders — Admission on trial — Allen Wiley 
— Young Preacher finds a home — John Foudray — Joshua Soule, jun- 
ior — Twelve presiding elders — Appointments — Young preachers — J. 
H. Bruce. 

Pages 54 to 66 

CHAPTER V. 

Winchester circuit — Judge Goodrich — Zebedee Canlrell — Spartan- 
burg — Praying for the preachers — The poor family — The bacon hams 
Ten dollar gold piece — Watch night — Frozen heels — Arnold Buffom 
— Conference year closes — Increase in Membership. 

Pages 66 to 78 

CHAPTER VI. 

Muncytown Station — Indian Chief — Rev. Robert Irvin — Contro- 
versy — Irvin preaches — Sailors experience — Preachers from the 
North — Stay over Sunday — Conference at Centerville. 

Pages 78 to 84 

CHAPTER VII. 

Bishop Morris — E. S., afterwards Bishop Janes — J. B. Finley — 
His sermon — James Havens — Death of Indian squaw — Chief, Be 
tween-the-logs — Appointed to Cambridge and Dublin. 

Pages S4 to 89 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Elder S. K. Hoshour — People of Cambridge — At Dublin — Lewis- 

ville — Plan of Circuit — Remarkable meeting — Conversion of Joseph 

Paul — Over forty of his people— Paul's trial for heresy — His triumph. 

Pages 89 to 1 04 

CHAPTER IX. 

Bishop Andrews — Crawfordsville conference — Itinerant horsemen 
— Jamestown — Brother Leach — His overthrow — Nightfall — Matthew 
Simpson — Ruter and J. C. Smith — Dividing the conference — 1 >ele- 
gates elected — Death of Bishop Roberts —Appointments — Returns to 



Cambridge City — Church built — Funeral at Dublin — Mr. McCune — 
Charles Wesley's hymn. 

Pages 104 to 114 

CHAPTER X. 

North Indiana Conference — Ft. Wayne I844 — Bishop Waugh — 
Matthew Simpson— Allen Wiley — Appointed to Indianapolis — Un- 
finished church — Prayer meeting — Polk's election — Whigs and Dem- 
ocrats — Preachers in the court house — Great revival — John Foudray, 
senior — Judge McClain — Church basement occupied— Upper room 
finished — Dedicated — Paid for — Off for conference. 

Pages 114 to 130 

CHAPTER XI. 

LaFayette 1845 — Bishop Hamlin and Dr. Elliot — Spend Sunday at 
Indianapolis — Bishop preaches at Roberts Chapel — Monday morning 
— Start for conference — Dinner at Rosses' — Kirklin — Dr. Elliott 
preaches — Bishop Quinn — Gentle admonition — Bishop H. laughs — 
Semi-sentennial-1873 — Address — Answer to prayer. 

[30 to 146 



CHAPTER XII. 

LaPorte — Bishop Morris — Ft. Wayne Female college — College 
agent — Moves to Dublin — Revival — F. A. Hardin converted — Godly 
women — Mighty in prayer — Beswick preaches — Webb exhorts — Tansy 
and Wheeler sing — The good work goes forward. 

Pages 146 to 149 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Indianapolis 1847 — Sermon by Bishop Janes — Appointment to 
Terre Haute — Salaries of Bishops — Church trial — William H. Goode, 
presiding elder. 

, Pages 149 to 152 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Presiding eldership — Office elective — Objectively — Strike the epis- 
copacy — Let the office alone. 

Pages 152 to 156 



VI 

CHAPTER XV. 

Terre Haute camp-meetings — One above, one below — Little girl 
talks — Rev. Thomas Files- -Robber killed. 

Pages 156 to 161 

CHAPTER XVI. 

French Dancing Master — Sermon on dancing — Hon. Thomas Dow- 
ling — Rev. Mr. Jewett — Hon. R. W. Thompson — Honored laymen — 
Godly women. 

Pages 161 to 182 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Appointed presiding elder — 1848 — First quarterly meeting — Big 
Pine church — Medsker family — Jacob Medsker and J. B. Finley — 
Scene witnessed in Xenia, Ohio, in writer's boyhood — Newport cir- 
cuit — Old church at Eugene. 

Pages 182 to 189 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Cambridge City conference— 1850 — John Daniel — LaFayette — 
Brother Joseph Marcee — Dread of Lake winds — Writer goes to La- 
Porte district— old Virginians — Many good people. 

Pages 189 to 196 

CHAPTER XIX. 

South Bend— Church dedicated 1851— L. W. Berry— I. M. Stagg 
located — General conference — Boston 1852 — Visit to Plymouth — The 
sailor and wife — Hanover street Boston — Big rooster — Unitarian 
preacher. 

Pages 196 to 215 

CHAPTER XX. 

Bishop Baker at Terre Haute — Fears the ague — Northwest Indiana 
conference organized — L. W. Berry preaches at 10:30 a. m. on Sun- 
day— R. Hargrave at 3 p m. — 1853— Conference at Attica — Bishop 
Ames— Jack Stinson — Church trial — A. B. expelled — \V. P. Watkins 
— Spiritualism. 

Pages 2 13 to 234 



VII 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Bishop Janes — 1856 — Crawfordsville conference — Thorntown Acad- 
emy — Miss'onsry committee — Ratification — Speeches — Conference in 
India — Dr. Butler— Joel, first convert — Service in sheep pen. 

Pages 234 to 247 

CHAPTER XXII. 

General Conference i860 — S. T. Cooper — Bishop Waugh — C. N. 
Sims — R. Hargr.ive in 1840— Conference al Valparaiso in 1858 — 
Bishop Ames — Westville to Valparaiso by horsepower — J. H. Hull 
— Deaths of Brothers Wheeler and Crawford. 

Pages 247 to 276 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

— General conference 1864 — President Lincoln — Visit to Washington 
— Lincoln's speech — Hoosier impudence — Bishop Simpson — His ser- 
mon at the Capitol — South Bend 1861 — Annual conference — A distin- 
guished visitor — Wants preachers in the army located — The confer- 
ence takes a different view. 

Pages 276 to 298 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Conference at Delphi in 1864 — Judge White's funeral — B. Winans 
killed — Preachers aid society — Swisher bequest to Asbury university 
— H. G. Jackson shot at New Orleans — General conference at Chi- 
cago — Bishop Ames and Dr. Puncheon — Dr. True and Peter Cart- 
wright — Dr. Cartwright's memoir. 

Pages 298 to 322 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Annual conference 1869 — Bishop Clark — Law question — College 
Agent — Williamsport circuit — New churches — Camp-meeting — Daniel 
DeMotte — Dog and baby — -Terre Haute 1870 — Bishop Simpson — 
Crawfordsville district. 

3 2 2 to 355 

CHAPTER XVI. 

General conference 1876 — -Book committee — Law question — Bat- 
tle Ground — Bishop Simpson — 1877 — DaPorte conference — Death of 



VIII 

T. S. Webb — Brazil — Bishop Peck — Trustee for thirty consecutive 
years — South Bend 1879 — D^ath of R. ILirgrave — Delegates elected 
— Death of Bishops Ames, Janes, and Harris — Bishop Bowman — 
Frankfort 18S0 — Danville 1881 — Bishop Andrews — Bishop Peck at 
Michigan City 1882 — Terre Haute 18S3 — Bishop Harris — Delegates 
elected — General conference 1884 — Attica — Annual conference — Bish- 
op Foster — Valparaisj 1885 — Bishop Foss — Frankfort — Bishop Mer 
ril 1886— Appointed P. E. Valparaiso district — Greencastle confer- 
ence — Delegates elected. 

Pages 355 to 37* 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

General conference 1888 — Bishops present — Deceased Bishops — 
Bishops elected — Women delegates — A remarkable paper — Confer- 
ence at Rochester — Bishop Andrews presides — Death of J. C. Reed — 
H. B. Ball — R. H. Calvert — Brazil conferen e 18S9 — Bishop Hurst 
— Deaths of L. Nebeker and E. B. Woodson — Crawfordsville 1890 — 
Bishop Fowler — Conference at South Bend 1891 — Fortieth session — 
Bishop Ninde — Delegates elected — Fifty-one years of active service — 
Superannuation comes at last — Statistics — Appointments — Closing live 
years on Valparaiso district — Successor — J. II. Wilson. 

Pages 371 to 385 

APPENDIX. 

Dr. J. W. T. McMullen, Portrait and sketch — Seven letters on the 
Apocalypse — J.H.Hull, Portrait and sketch — Chaplain McCabe, 
Sketch and portrait — Dr. C. N. Sims, Portrait and sketch by J. L. 
Smith — Reminiscences of J. L Smith by Dr. Sims — Recollections of 
J. L. Smith by F. A. Hardin, D. I). — Northern Indiana by author. 
Pages 385 to 483 




REV. BISHOP E. It. AMES, D. D. 

The great Church Statesman. 



XI 



INTRODUCTION. 

The History of Indiana Methodism contains 
so much of heroism, struggle, self-sacrifice, courage 
and romantic adventure that the church cannot 
afford to leave it unrecorded ; and I know of no 
one better qualified to write it than the author of 
this book. No other living Methodist has had so 
long, so wide and so intimate an acquaintance with 
his church in the state as has Dr. John L. Smith. No 
other has been a more important figure in shaping 
its history ; standing amid its memorials he may say 
truthfully and without egotism, "quorum pars mag- 
na fui" — "of which I have been a great part." 

He was one of its first circuit-riders ; has preach- 
ed at camp-meetings and in frontier cabins ; has 
been active in the presiding eldership ; has been 
closely identified with educational enterprises and 
has often represented his conference in the general 
councils of the church. 

It is his peculiar good fortune to be able to write 
the history of Methodism in his state as an eye-wit- 
ness and a participant from the beginning. He is 
able to present original pen pictures of noble and 
strong men, who would not otherwise become known 
to the general church. 

Indiana has given to Methodism great men, who 
are known throughout all her borders. Simpson, 
Ames, Bowman and the younger Eddy with others 



XII 

have occupied so large a place in the whole denom- 
ination that their record will never be overlooked. 

But another class, not less talented and equally- 
wise and heroic, have made their own history and 
that of their church within the borders of the state. 
John Strange, Allen Wiley, James Havens, Lucien 
W. Berry, Augustus Eddy, Aaron and Enoch Wood, 
Richard Hargrave and a score of others possessed 
enough talent, courage and pulpit ability to give 
them church wide recognition, had it not been their 
fortune to live and labor in anew country before the 
days of easy and constant inter-state communica- 
tion. 

These were 

'■Men whose lives glided on like rivers that water the woodlands, 
Darkened by shadows of earth, but reflecting an image of heaven . " 

Equally worthy of record are many splendid lay- 
men whose zeal and liberality contributed largely 
to the foundation of Indiana Methodism. 

It has not been my privilege to read the book to 
which I am writing an introduction, but I am sure 
from my long and intimate acquaintance with its au- 
thor, it will prove a worthy record of noble men 
and stirring times ; a contribution to the general 
history of Methodism which the church will receive 
with affectionate gratitude. C. N. SlMS. 

Syracuse, N. Y. 

Sept. 8th., 1892. 



CHAPTER I. 

VIRGINIA— EARLY LIFE. 

The author of these pages, John Lewis Smith, son 
of Bowlin and Lovewell Smith, was born near Ghol- 
sonville, Brunswick county, Virginia, on the 24th 
day of May, 1811. His paternal grandparents were 
Aaron and Edith Smith. Edith Smith, nee Perry, 
was a not distant relative of Commodore O. H. Perry, 
of Rhode Island. His maternal grandparents were 
William and Mary Owen. Mary Owen's maiden name 
was Bachelor. 

William and Mary Owen were Welch emigrants, 
who, soon after their marriage, settled near Ports- 
mouth, Virginia. Having been brought up under its 
teaching, they were staunch members of the Church 
of England. How at length they came to be identi- 
fied with the rise of Methodism in Virginia, is deemed 
worthy of a brief explanation. 

A certain Methodist preacher, in 1772, made a mis- 
sionary tour through Maryland, Virginia, and North 
Carolina. His name was Robert Williams. On ar- 
riving at Norfolk, Virginia, Mr. Williams mounted 
the court-house steps, and began singing. A crowd 
soon gathered about him; but, almost as soon as he 
began preaching, his audience became boisterous and 
threatening. Observing the mob rapidly organizing 
to break up the services, William Owen, one of the 
associate justices of the county, who happened to be 



14 INDIANA METHODISM, 

present, urged his way through the crowd, and, tak- 
ing his stand beside the preacher, commanded the 
peace. And for thus doing his duty as a magistrate 
he was rewarded with the unsought privilege of hear- 
ing an excellent gospel sermon. 

The evident piety and earnestness of the preacher 
impressed Mr. Owen so favorably that he took occa- 
sion, at the close of the services, to invite Mr. Will- 
iams home with him for the night. The invitation 
was of course cheerfujly accepted by the almost 
friendless preacher. As soon, however, as Mrs. Owen 
discovered that her husband's guest was a Metho- 
dist preacher, she declared that no such creature 
should stay in her house. "But I have invited him," 
said Mr. Owen, "and I cannot turn him away now." 
"Very well, then," she replied warmly, "if you are 
determined to have our home disgraced by a bab- 
bling Methodist preacher, I shall go and stay over 
night with one of the neighbors." Suffice it to say, 
the good woman finally yielding a few points, the 
preacher was permitted to remain. When the hour 
for evening worship came, Mr. Williams, by request 
conducted the family prayers, devoutly calling upon 
God in behalf of the parents, their children and ser- 
vants. The prayer was not fruitless; for it was dur- 
ing the progress of this prayer that Mr. Owen awoke 
to the consciousness that he was an unsaved sinner. 

The next morning as the minister was about tak- 
ing his leave, Mr. Owen made bold to say to him: 
"Can you not leave an appointment to preach at my 
house on your return from the Carolinas ?" "Certain- 
ly," said Mr. Williams ; "you may expect me four 
weeks from to day." On returning to meet this en- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 15 

gagement Mr. Williams was happily surprised to find 
Mr. and Mrs. Owen and five of their neighbors glo- 
riously converted., — all boldly witnessing for Christ 
and rejoicing in the love of God. 

These seven, organized as a class by Mr. Williams, 
constituted, as the family tradition has always claim- 
ed, the first Methodist society in Virginia. Lednum's 
History of the Rise of Methodism in America, chap- 
ter 12, page 78, says: "In the beginning of 1772, 
Robert Williams went to Norfolk, Virginia. He was 
the first Methodist preacher in the Old Dominion." 
The home of Mr. Owen, as long as he remained in 
the vicinity of Portsmouth was the meeting-place of 
the new society. 

The next day after his conversion Mr. Owen went 
over to Norfolk, and manumitted his slaves, eighty- 
three in number. Not long afterwards, he went out 
into Brunswick county, where land was comparative- 
ly cheap, to settle his freedmen. And some years 
later, near the close of the Revolutionary war, on 
learning that his ex-slaves were being mistreated by 
the neighboring slaveholders, he moved with his fam- 
ily to Brunswick county, in order to give better pro- 
tection to the interests of his freedmen. 

Once, while the Owen family remained near Nor- 
folk, a company of foragers from the British army, or, 
in the phrase of the times, a "press gang," visited Mr. 
Owen's plantation in his absence, and drove away 
every foot of live stock on the place. Soon after the 
"gang" had gone with their booty, a British officer 
in regimentals, booted and spurred, rode up to the 
front gate, and hallowed. Mrs. Owen, on stepping to 
the door to answer the call, was commanded to pre- 



l6 INDIANA METHODISM, 

pare dinner for him at once. He then dismounted, 
and deliberately walked into the house. Dinner 
ready, she invited him to the table, at which she 
presided with such grace and dignity as readily won 
his respect. Laying aside the imperious airs at first 
assumed, he became, in her presence, a courteous 
gentleman. She made no mention of the "press gang" 
until he opened the way by saying : "The soldiers 
raided your plantation, I believe, this morning?" 
"Yes, sir," she calmly responded, they drove away all 
our live stock, they left us nothing." He made no 
further allusions to the subject for the time, but on 
rising to leave he said : "I am Captain Lovewell, of 
the British army and have charge of the men that 
raided your plantation this morning." About five 
o'clock in the afternoon the "press gang" returned, 
bringing back every thing they had taken away in 
the morning. 

On returning home at night-fall Mr. Owen listened 
with eager interest as his wife recounted the incidents 
of the day, and then added: "In memory of the kind- 
ness of Captain Lovewell, I am resolved, if the Lord, 
in his good providence, shall ever favor us with 
an addition to the number of our children, either 
boy or girl, that the name of the child, with your 
consent, shall be Lovewell." At length a daughter 
was given to inherit the name ; and so Lovewell be- 
came to the writer the most precious of names, — the 
name ever dear of his now sainted mother. She pass- 
ed through the gates of pearl, into the realm of light, 
in 1852. 

One of Mr. Owen's neighbors in Brunswick county 
was the Rev. Edward Drumgole. Mr. Drumqole was 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 7 

admitted on trial at the conference of 1774. He itin- 
erated a few years, then married, and located. Lo- 
cation was a penalty imposed upon many a Method- 
ist preacher for getting married. There were no 
wealthy charges to support married men in those 
early times. The located preachers, however, did 
not cease to do effective service. They were zealous 
and efficient minister's of the gospel. 

The early Methodists of Virginia were strict ob- 
servers of the Discipline, always keeping the Friday 
before quarterly meeting as a day of fasting 'and 
prayer "for the prosperity of Zion." Among Mr. 
Owen's freedmen was a queer old specimen, a native 
of Guinea, whose name was Quash. On a certain 
fast-day one of the little darkies came running to the 
"great house," and reported that Uncle Quash had 
been eating hominy, contrary to the rules of ole mas- 
sah. Quash was summoned at once, to account for 
his misconduct. "Quash,"said Mr. Owen, "is it pos- 
sible, after all I've done for you, that you've been so 
wicked as to eat on fast-day? Don't you know, Quash, 
that I bought you out of a slave-ship? and have you 
forgotten how I set you free? You were taught, in 
your native land, to worship the devil and eat fire, 
but I have tried to teach you the gospel. And is 
this the way you remember my kindness ?" Quash 
then made answer for himself, and said : "Well, mas- 
sah, in de first place, Dick need n't be a runnin' to de 
great house a tellin' tales on me, sah. Now, in de nex' 
place, I tells you de God's trufe 'bout de mattah. 
Cauze you see, massah, dis niggah, when he hab 
nuthin' to eat all day, gits monsus hongry befo' night, 
an' so dis mornin' I jes take two pan ob homny so's 



18 INDIANA METHODISM, 

I mout be able to stan' it better to fass.'* 

The first American conference of Methodist 
preachers was held at Philadelphia in June, 1773. 
Ten preachers were reported, to wit: Thomas Ran- 
kin, George Shadford, John King, William Waters, 
Francis Asbury, Robert Strawbridge, Abraham 
Whitworth, Joseph Yearbry, Richard Wright, 
and Robert Williams. (The first American-born 
Methodist preacher was William Waters.) 

The report of lay members was as follows : New 
York, 180; Philadelphia, 180; New Jersey, 200 ; 
Maryland, 5C0 ; Virginia, ico : in all, 1160. 

A large majority of those reported from Virginia 
were credited to Brunswick county, the rest being 
divided among the cities of Richmond, Petersburg, 
Norfolk, and Portsmouth. The Virginia report of 
lay members at the conference of 1774 was, Fairfax, 
350 ; Norfolk, 125 ; Brunswick, 161 1. Evidently Brun- 
swick county was one of the strongholds of Method- 
ism. 

The Methodist churches or preaching-places in 
Brunswick county at the time of the writer's earliest 
recollection, were : Hobb's meeting-house, Drum- 
gole's or Woolsey's barn, Ellis's chapel, Salem chapel, 
Rock church, and Pelham's meeting-house. 

Rock church was dedicated by the Rev. Alexander 
Mc Cain. The only Irish woman in the county at 
the time was a zealous Methodist, and a great shout- 
er. Mr. Mc Cain, who was an able man in more ways 
than one, made some remarks in the course of his ser- 

*The frying pan of those days with its long handle, was held over 
an open fire, and might contain fro ' >ur quarts,— i 

stoves were unknown. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 9 

mon that highly offended a certain wicked young man 
by the name of Tom Washington. Thereupon W. de- 
termined to insult the preacher. The opportunity 
came at the close of the service. Preacher and people 
were making their way towards the door, when W. 
lingering at a convenient point, accomplished his 
purpose by spitting in the preacher's face. Instantly 
Mc Cain, who was a powerful left-hander.let drive 
his double fist against the rowdy's head, knocking the 
fellow sprawling between the benches. The good 
Irish woman, shouting along not far behind the 
preacher, on noticing how handy he was with his 
fist, suddenly changed her tune, exclaiming in tones 
of glad surprise: "The Lord bless the dear mon! 
Why, he can turn his hond to almost inything." 

Brunswick was for many years the chief rallying- 
point of Virginia Methodism. Within the bounds of 
the circuit lived the great revivalist, John Easter ; as 
also the Myricks.the Jameses, the Sewards, the Rain- 
eys, the Gholson's,the Ellises, the Dentons.the Drum- 
goles, the Booths, and the Owens. Several Annual 
conferences were held on Brunswick circuit by Bish- 
op Asbury. The bishop says in his Journal: "Thurs- 
day, Nov. 19, 1795, 1 preached at Richmond, Va.,and 
next day, came, cold and hungry to my affectionate, 
kind, adopted son, J. Harding's, in Petersburg. Here 
several of the preachers met me to accompany me 
to the quarterly meeting in Brunswick. Tuesday, 
24, our conference began at Salem chapel; there were 
present about fifty members and sixteen probation- 
ers. Sunday, 29, was a great day. I preached on 
1 Tim. iii, 15, 16. There were ten elders and nine 
deacons ordained. Monday, 30, I had a few people 



20 INDIANA METHODISM, 

and several preachers at Brother Seward's. The 
next day at Woolsey's barn (now Drumgole's chap- 
el) I had a few people, they having had short notice. 
I spent that evening with Brother E. D., whose house 
is not with the Lord as he prayeth and longeth; yet 
I trust God hath made an everlasting covenant with 
the father, well ordered and sure. Wednesday.Dec, 
2, I preached at my old friend W. Owen's, whom I 
first knew at Portsmouth. We had a small house and 
a good meeting." Lovewell Owen then between ten 
and eleven years of age was converted at this meet- 
ing, and received into the church by Bishop Asbury. 

The Owen family was large, consisting of the par- 
ents, William and Mary, and their children, — Soph- 
ia, Sarah, William, Mary, Thomas, Lovewell, and 
Nancy. 

Of the Smiths, two brothers, Moses and Aaron, set- 
tled in Brunswick county. Aaron, as already intima- 
ted, married Edith Perry ; to them were born three 
sons, — John, Lewis, and Bowlin. 

Bowlin Smith and Lovewell Owen were united in 
marriage by the Rev. Edward Dru-mgole in the year 
1800. This union was blest with ten children, all of 
whom lived to adult age; namely, Nancy P., Mary N., 
Sophia S., Elizabeth F., John L., Sarah L., Harriet B., 
Matthew A., Catharine R., and Benjamin F. They 
were all members of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; 
each one died in the hope of a blissful immortality. 

In 181 1 William and Mary Owen, with their son 
William and their daughters,Sophia and Sarah, quit- 
ting their Virginia home, settled in Green county, 
Ohio. Here they found a number of their old-time 
Virginia friends and neighbors, — the Bonners, the 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 21 

Pelhams, the Sale's, the Heaths, and Davises, — sev- 
eral of whom were representatives of the first class 
formed in Virginia, and became charter members of 
an Ohio class at a point called Union meeting- house. 

Another Virginia family, Bowlin and Lovewell 
Smith, with their children, were attracted to Green 
county, Ohio, in November, 1826. Among the chil- 
dren of this family was a boy of fifteen, John Lewis, 
or, as they usually called him, Lewis. A month or 
two after the family arrived in Ohio, Lewis, while at- 
tending a meeting at Union, was by the Holy Spirit 
deeply awakened — at a meeting conducted by Will- 
iam H. Raper and George W. Maley, the preachers 
then in charge of Union circuit. 

On the morning of April 1, 1827, while Horatio 
Maxey, sen., brother to the Rev. Bennett Maxey, 
formely of the Virginia conference, was singing, 
"Come, ye sinners, poor and needy," John Lewis 
Smith, then in the 16th year of his age, was power- 
fully converted to God. He soon felt it his duty to 
call sinners to repentance, but found much to discour- 
age the undertaking, especially in his lack of educa- 
tion, not to mention his youth or his sense of unfit- 
ness generally. There was no doubt in his mind as 
to the supreme necessity of at least a good English 
education, and, such as his opportunities were, he 
resolved to improve them. Being the eldest son of 
a large family recently located in the woods of a new 
country, his father unused to manual labor, the bur- 
den of making a farm, — grubbing, rolling logs, maul- 
ing rails, making fences, etc., — devolved mainly on 
him. Every day was a day of toil. The day's 
work done, he took up his books, pursuing his stud- 



22 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ies in the light of the blazing shell-bark. 

One of the best of mothers aided him much in his 
studies, as well in the study of theology as other sub- 
jects. She was a woman of extensive reading and 
of much more than average culture. Besides the Bi- 
ble she was familiar with the theological writings of 
Wesley and Fletcher, especially with such volumes 
as Wesley's Sermons, Fletcher's Appeal, and Checks 
to Antinomianism. Thoroughly posted on the sub- 
ject of Bible doctrines, and well informed on the re- 
ligious topics of the day, she was by no means an in- 
competent instructor. She was a thorough-going 
Methodist, withal, by virtue of the training, antece- 
dents, and traditions of her early life. The father of 
Episcopal Methodism was indeed her spiritual father. 
Very naturally, and justly enough, she revered the 
name of Bishop Asbury. The good bishop was the 
frequent guest of her father's family in Virginia, as 
also their occasional guest in Ohio, and so became 
the means, when she was quite young, not only of 
leading her to Christ, as heretofore stated, but also 
of establishing her fully in her devotion to the doc- 
trines and usuages of Methodism. 

Nine long years or more the boy was in training 
by the devoted mother. Encouraged by her prayers 
and instruction, yet not without many misgivings, 
sometimes hoping and sometimes despairing, back- 
sliding and repenting, at last he resolved to go for- 
ward in what seemed to him plainly the path of duty. 
Survive or perish he would preach the gospel. 

His first license as an exhorter bears the date of 
June, 1836, and the signature of William Sutton, 
preacher-in charge. When the question of grant- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 23 

ing the license came before the class, a lengthy dis- 
cussion ensued. Some thought it was not a very 
"clear case." At last, when the vote was taken, it 
was found to be a tie. As it happened, Mother Sale, 
widow of the Rev. John Sale, of precious memory, 
was present, and, at this juncture, inquired of the 
preacher whether it was lawful for women to vote. 
Being answered in the affirmative, she voted "aye" 
and the license was granted. 

The young man, on being recalled to the class 
room and informed as to the action of the class, forth- 
with announced an appointment to "hold meeting" 
at 4 o'clock the next Sunday afternoon, at the house 
of Brother Thomas Owen. A little incident hap- 
pened about this time that resulted in giving the 
announcement wide publicity. A clever, hard-work- 
ing man by the name of Price, had traded a favorite 
family horse to the then prospective exhorter ; but, 
on finding his wife and children loth to part with 
the horse, Price came to the young man, saying, "I'll 
make you a thousand rails if you will consent to rue 
the bargain." The offer was accepted. Price made 
the rails, which was equivalent to the payment of 
five dollars, and received back his horse. The young 
man, after thinking the matter over, decided not to 
exact anything from his neighbor and paid Price for 
making the rails. Price was elated. As soon, there- 
fore, as he heard of the announcement, he took it 
upon himself to go abroad over the neighborhood, 
commending the "new preacher," and urging every- 
body to attend the meeting. The result was, that, 
when the hour for meeting came, Thomas Owen's 
house and door-yard combined, could hardly hold 



24 INDIANA METHODISM, 

the people that turned out, all curious to hear the 
"new preacher" as he was called by his friend Price. 
Not long after this Mr. Price and several members 
of his family were soundly converted. 

The following Sunday night,Exhorter held a meet- 
ing at the house of Brother John Loyd, whose son 
is now an esteemed member of the Cincinnati confer- 
ence. The writer cannot vouch for the truth of it, 
but it was said, in reference to this occasion, that the 
reading of the opening hymn was distinctly heard 
a J; Lick Branch, a distance of a mile or more. Soon 
after the meeting opened George B. Owen, who for 
some time had been in a backslidden state, on ac- 
count of his unwillingness to preach the gospel was 
called on to pray. He refused to respond. Again 
he was called on to pray, and again he refused. 
Having a notion that nothing else would do, Exhort- 
er reached over to where Owen was kneeling, and 
gave him a blow on the short ribs, saying : "This is 
my last call to you; we've come to a dead lock; and, 
if you are determined not to pray, I shall proceed to 
dismiss the meeting." At last he began in a low, 
mumbling way, but soon began to warm up, and in 
a few minutes was praying for mercy at the top of 
his voice. He was there and then triumphantly re- 
claimed. The house was crowded. And so wonder- 
ful were the manifastations of divine power, that, be- 
fore the meeting closed, everybody in the house was 
either shouting the praise of God or crying aloud for 
mercy. No one was invited to the mourner's bench, 
but the unconverted found a place for prayer where- 
ever they happened to be. The revival flame there 
kindled, spread abroad over the country; and souls 



SCENES AND INCIDENTS. 25 

not a few were converted ; — in the fields, along the 
highways, coming to church or returning from it, as 
well as at the house of prayer. George B. Owen 
whose reclamation has been mentioned, became a 
zealous and useful minister. After traveling about 
twenty five years in the Cincinnati conference, he 
was called from the labors of earth to his reward in 
heaven. 

The Exhorter aforesaid was licensed to preach in 
February, 1837, by the Rev. James B. Finley, pre- 
siding elder, and was at once employed by Mr. Fin- 
ley as a supply on the Wilmington circuit, J. Laws 
preacher-in-charge. Among the many good people 
then living in the bounds of the circuit, mention may 
be made of the Wrights, the Hibbens, the Morrises, 
the Shephards, the Gustins, and the Showalters at 
Willmington, in the country were the Jenkinses, the 
Fortners and the Trimbills, Mother Fortner, as she 
was called, lived at "Oliver Branch." She had been 
raised a quaker,— -was a woman of culture, deeply 
pious, and especially gifted in public speech. On 
a certain Sunday morning, at one of the quarterly- 
meeting love-feasts, a tedious old brother, by the 
name of Babby, and Mother Fortner rose at the 
same time to speak. Not seeing her, Brother Babby 
proceeded to tell his experience, she taking her seat. 
Nobody cared to listen to Brother Babby, but all 
were anxious to hear Mother Fortner. A feeling 
of disappointment was manifest — by no one more 
visibly than by the presiding elder, Mr. Finley. 
Brother Babby continued his talk, telling, among 
other wonderful things about the "sea sarpents,' he 
had seen as he was coming over from England. 



26 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Becoming very impatient, Mr. Finley interrupted 
him with,' Be Short, Brother Babby, be short many 
others desire to speak." "Child," responded the 
complacent Babby, "I recon you can wait till I tell 
my tale, can't you?" And on he went with his story. 
He had not proceeded far, however, until Mr. Finley 
again suggested the importance of brevity. "Be 
short, Brother Babby, you must be short ! we've no 
time for long speeches." Babby returned almost 
the same response as before. "It looks strange, child," 
he said, "that you can't wait till I tell my tale," and, 
as before, proceeded to unwind his yarn. L n:ible 
to endure the imposition any longer, Mr. Finley 
began to sing, the congregation joining with a will 
— and Brother Babby took his seat ! Mother Former 
then rose, and began in her tender, plaintive way 
to speak of her religious enjoyments and hopes. 
The people listened with intense interest, anxious 
to catch every word that fell from her lips. The good 
woman had well-nigh reached the climax of her 
telling talk, the congregation already deeply mov- 
ed, when Brother Babby, the irrepressible Babby, 
began to sing at the top of his voice. "Stop that, 
stop that, Brother Babby, Sister Fortner is speak- 
ing,"exclaimed Mr. Finley, in tones that fairly blazed 
with indignation; but the imperturbable Babby only 
sang the louder, and continued to sing until Sister 
Fortner was seated. The Englishman had caught 
up with the presiding elder. 

The assistant preacher had just closed his first ser- 
mon at the Jenkins appointment, when a little boy 
about eight years of age, rose in the congregation, 
and, with tears streaming down his face, exclaimed, 



SCENES AND INCIDENTS. 27 

"I love Jesus, oh, I love Jesus "! The preacher receiv- 
ed him into the church, and, after the close of that 
conference year, never saw him again until 1884. 
The boy, now over fifty years of age, was visiting 
some friends in Thorntown, Indiana, and again heard 
the man preach that received him into the church. 
He sought an interview with the preacher, and said: 
'T have always remembered that the preacher to 
whom I gave my hand, was named Smith; but, if ever 
I knew, I have never been able to recall the first part 
of his name. I have for years been wanting to find 
him, and now I believe you are the man." "Did you," 
he continued, "ever preach at Salem ? or what was 
sometimes called the Jenkins meeting-house ?" 
"Yes," said the preacher, "I preached there in 1837 
as a supply, now forty-seven years ago." "Do you 
remember a little boy's joining the church there any 
time that year?" he queried. "Yes," said the preach- 
er, "and I remember distinctly how he impressed me 
and the congregation, when, with streaming eyes he 
exclaimed, T love Jesus, oh, I love Jesus!'" "lam 
that boy," said he, "and I thank God that I have at 
last found the man that received me into the church; 
and, now I want to tell you that I still love Jesus, and 
am on my way to heaven." 



28 INDIANA METHODISM, 



CHAPTER II. 

OHIO CAMP MEETING— UNCLE BILLY ROY\ E. 

The local preacher was variously engaged from 
1837 to 1840, somtimes in secular business, some- 
times traveling as a supply. His first effort at preach- 
ing from a text occured at the house of a Brother 
Brewington, in Madison county, Ohio, about five 
miles from London. Thus it happened. He had 
gone to Mr. Brewington's in company with a friend, 
Brother G. B. Owen, visiting, to spend a certain sab- 
bath, and enjoy the privilege of hearing a sermon by 
the Rev. Joel Havens, (a brother of the Rev. James 
Havens,) knowing that Mr. Havens had an appoint- 
ment there for that day Mr. Havens preached a 
powerful sermon, and then met the class, the exer- 
cises proceeding amid sobs, and tears, and many loud 
halleluias. Mr. Havens called on the local preacher 
to conduct the closing services, after which he an- 
nounced : "Bro. John L. Smith, of Green county, will 
preach to the people here this afternoon at 4 o'clock, 
and Brother Owen will exhort after him." A clap of 
thunder in a clear sky could not have taken the 
young man with greater surprise. 

Overwhelmed with a sense of the responsibility 
now resting upon him, actually to face a congregation 
in the capacity of a preacher, but feeling he dare not, 
at the peril of his soul, refuse to respond to the an- 
nouncement, he betook himself to the grove, thereto 
wrestle with God in prayer for divine aid. His mind 
was led by the Spirit to Matt. xxi. 28, 1. c, "Son, go 
work to-day in my vineyard." The young preacher 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 29 

thought he saw the counterpart of his own experience 
in the first son's refusal and after obedience, and this 
determined the drift of the discourse. It is fairly 
supposable that he did not preach a very methodi- 
cal sermon, but he was happy in trying to preach, — 
the people indulged in frequent amens, and he was 
greatly encouraged. 

Sometime in 1838 he was invited to attend a camp- 
meeting in Fayette county, Ohio, a few miles from 
Jefferson. On his way thither he preached at Sabina, 
in Clinton county, and at the Sugar-creek appoint- 
ment, between Sabina and the camp-ground. The 
school-house at Sabina was full, yet only one person 
in the audience, and he a backslider, had made a pro- 
fession of religion. Christian people in those days 
usually knelt in time of prayer, but, on this occasion, 
there was not one to bow with the preacher at the 
throne of grace. After discoursing to the people as 
best he could under the circumstances, he was invit- 
ed to the home of his friend, the backslider, where, 
as he cannot forget, he was kindly entertained. 

Early the next morning he started for the other 
appointment, where he found the people waiting, on 
his arrival at 11 o'clock. His theme at this point, 
Sugar-creek, was "Practical religion." 

The camp-meeting referred to was largely attend- 
ed both by the laity and the ministry. The Revs. 
Edward Estell, Samuel Clark, and Moses Trader 
were among the ministers in attendance ; also the 
then celebrated exhorter, Billy Rowe, a host in him- 
self, was there in the fulness of his zeal and strength. 
Trader and Clark were considered the lions of that 
particular forest. Trader preached on Sunday morn- 



30 INDIANA METHOLHSM, 

ing. His text was Heb. iv. 14. Two hours or more 
he towered with his grand theme, the priesthood of 
Christ, the swaying multitudes unconsciously near- 
ing the pulpit, until, at the close, carried away by 
the burning words, the mighty thoughts and melting 
pathos of the "son of thunder," there was first a mur- 
mur of applause like the low rumble of distant can- 
nonading, then an outburst of loud halleluias rarely, 
if ever before, witnessed even in those days of won- 
derful camp-meeting revivals. The camp-meeting 
custom then was, to have two or three sermons in 
succession on the Sabbath day, without intermission. 
Clark was to follow Trader. As soon as Trader sat 
down Clark arose, and, chafing like a mettlesome 
steed in restraint, or a proud-spirited warrior whose 
defeat is assured, he announced as a text Acts xii. 
22, — "And the people gave a great shout, saying, it 
is the voice of a God, and not of a man." How frail 
isman ! The choice of the text was in itself suggest- 
ive of a wrong spirit. All through the discourse 
there was an evident wish to strike at his predeces- 
sor as both grieved and mortified his audience. At 
the close of the harangue the people went mourning 
to their tents. 

The day was made further memorable by another 
failure, of less importance to be sure than the one 
just mentioned, of a different character, but never to 
be forgotten by our local preacher. About three in 
the afternoon he was informed that he would be ex- 
pected to preach at 4 o'clock. Anticipating the re- 
mote possibility of such a call as this, he had already 
prepared himself for the emergency by carefully 
memorizing one of Burder's "village sermons". The 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 3 I 

only thing for him to do now, was to make sure of 
his preparation; so he took to the woods forthwith, 
there to repeat and re-repeat his piece. When the 
horn blew, calling the people together for the after- 
noon service, the young preacher, now well-nigh 
frightened out of his wits, was accompanied into the 
standby Father Rowe,whohad the goodness to say, 
for the young man's encouragement, "I will stand by 
you," a word of promise that was royally fulfilled. 
After singing and prayer the young man arose, and 
announced his text, "I am the way", John xiv. 6. 
He went on smoothly enough for about ten minutes, 
"when in an instant all was dark ;" then, having made 
several fruitless attempts to recover his self-posses- 
sion, he sat down, chagrined almost beyond endur- 
ance. This humiliating experience taught him an 
important lesson; for then and there he vowed unto 
the Lord never to violate the law, "Thou shalt not 
steal," which vow, as he believes, he has faithfully 
kept. His first was also his last attempt at plagiarism. 
That wonderful man, Uncle Billy Rowe, promptly 
rose, spoke tenderly and kindly of the young preach- 
er, and told how he himself, in his more youthful 
days, had often failed in his attempts to exhort. 
Men could not control the conditions under which 
they were to preach, and the most able ministers, 
he had observed, did not escape the mortification of 
occasional failures. Having at length fully enlisted 
the sympathy of the congregation, he reannounced 
the text, "I am the way," and, taking hold of his sub- 
ject with the grasp of a giant, redeemed the failures 
of the day, "snatching victory from the jaws oi de- 
feat." 



32 INDIANA METHODISM, 

He drew largely from Thompson's Seasons, 
Young's Night Thoughts, and Milton's Paradise Lost. 
Young, however, seemed to be his favorite author. 
He touched the key note, when, in devout attitude 
and thrilling tones, he poured the fervor of his soul 
into the invocation: — 

O Thou great Arbiter of life ami death ! 
Nature's immortal, immaterial Sun ! 
Whose all-prolific beam late called me forth 
From darkness, teeming darkness, where I lay 
The worm's inferior, and, in rank, beneath 
The dust I tread on, high to bear my brow, 
To drink the spirit of the golden day, 
And triumph in existence; and couldst know 
No motive but my bliss ; and hast ordained 
A rise in blessing! with the patriarch's joy, 
Thy call I follow to the land unknown : 
I trust in Thee, and know in whom I trust: 
Or life, or death, is equal, neither weighs : 
All weight in this — O let me live to Thee ! 

Eloquence, some one has said, is in the man, in 
the subject, and in the occasion. However that may 
be, Mr. Rowe's address rose to the dignity, sweep, 
and power of the highest order of sacred eloquence. 
His sublime mastery of the occasion was attested 
by the simultaneous weeping, praying, and shouting 
of the vast congregation. There were a few in the 
audience that were apparently indifferent, — a few of 
the disciples of Paine, who were grouped together at 
the left of the speaker. The speaker, well knowing 
they were present and the motives that prompted 
their coming, appeared for sometime not to notice 
them; but just at the proper point in the progress 
of his discourse, sweeping round in that direction, 
his eyes fell full upon them: for a moment he stood 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 33 

motionless, intently gazing upon the group, then, lift- 
ing his eyes toward heaven, he exclaimed, "O Fath- 
er, help me !" and with a glow of heavenly inspiration 
upon his countenance, addressed them in words that 
must have burned to the very core of their hearts : 

Y.e brainless wits ! ye baptised infidels ! 
Ye worse for mending! washed to fouler stains ! 
The ransom was paid down ; the fund of Heaven, 
Heaven's inexhaustible, exhausted fund, 
Amazing, and amazed, poured fourth the price, 
All price beyond : though curious to compute, 
Archangles failed to cast the mighty sum: 
Its value vast, ungrasped by minds create, 
Forever hides, and glows in the Supreme. 
And was the ransom paid? It was : and paid 
(What can exalt the bounty more ?) for you. 
The sun beheld it — No, the shocking scene 
Drove back his chariot: midnight veiled his face; 
Not such as this ; not such as nature makes; 
A midnight nature suddered to behold: 
A midnight new ! a dread eclipse (without 
Opposing spheres,) from her Creator's frown ! 

Turning now toward the western sun, earth and 
sky glowing in the supernal beauty of the sunset's 
golden beams, the great exhorter continued: 

Sun ! didst thou fly thy Maker's pain ? or start 
At that enormous load of human gilt, 
Which bowed his blessed head; overwhelmed his cross; 
Made groan the center; burst earth's marble womb, 
With pangs, strange pangs! delivered of her dead? 
Hell howled; and Heaven that hour let fall a tear! 
Heaven wept, that man might smile ; Heaven bled that man 
Might never die! 

Again addressing the audience, his face aglow with 
rapture, he dwelt for a time on "Jesus the way", — 
the way, through death to immortality, from the sor- 



34 INDIANA METHODISM, 

rows of earth to the blissful life of heaven, closing 
with the words: 

In his blessed life, 
I see the path, and in his death, the price, 
And in his great ascent, the proof supreme 
Of immortality. — And did he rise ? 
Hear, O ye nations ! hear it, O ye dead! 
He rose ! He rose ! He burst the bars of death. 
Oh the burst gates ! crushed sting ! demolished throne ! 
Last grasp of vanquished death ! Shout earth and heaven! 
This sum of good to man: whose nature, then, 
Took wing, and mounted with him from the tomb ! 
Then, then, I rose 

"Let us sing," he slid, and more than a thousand 
voices thrilled with the triumphant strains of old 
Easter Anthem. The effect was sublime. The dis- 
ciples of Paine had fled. The ministers were shout- 
ing, and embracing .each other in their arms; sin- 
ners were falling by the scores, and crying for mercy; 
and all over the camp-ground, the saints were re- 
joicing with exceeding great joy. 

In the course of the meeting, which lasted about 
a week, three hundred and seventy souls were re- 
ported as having been brought to the knowledge 
, of sins forgiven. Many also professed the blessing 
of "perfect love." "He that winneth souls is wise." 
"And they that be wise shall shine as the bright- 
ness of the firmament; and they that turn many to 
righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever." 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 35 



CHAPTER III. 

SURPRISE— INDIAN SQUAW. 

The winter of 1839-40 brought with it many 
changes. Westward, at length, Providence having 
opened the way, the path of duty led our Local 
preacher. In the month of March, 1840, he set out 
on horseback for the far west, which, as he then un- 
derstood it, meant eastern, or, at most, central 
Indiana. After visiting some friends that lived on 
the Raccoon, near Ladoga, Montgomery County, he 
went into the Mississinewa country, to see his sister 
and her husband, the Rev. Eli H. Anderson. While 
at Mr. Anderson's house he met, for the first time, 
the Rev. John H. Hull, now of the Northwest In- 
diana Conference. Brother Hull, then a lean, lank, 
wiry, little fellow, a mere boy, was on the circuit, — 
the circuit having Muncytown, now Muncie, as its 
chief appointment, and embracing no inconsiderable 
portion of the regions round about, a — circuit bound- 
ed on the east by Bear creek ; on'the south by New 
Castle circuit and Blue river, on the west by Pipe 
creek; and on the north by " limberloss and loblolly. " 

The presiding elder, the Rev. Robert Burns, was 
wanting an assistant for Brother Hull. Pastor Hull 
and his people promptly decided that the Buckeye 
local preacher had been divinely directed thither, to 
become the pastor's much needed assistant. Ac- 
cordingly, a few weeks after his arrival, at a quar- 
terly meeting held at Smithfield, on White river, he 
was authorized, by the presiding elder, to co-operate 



$6 INDIANA METHODISM, 

as Junior preacher with Brother Hull the remain- 
der of the conference year. 

The Buckeye was fairly inducted into Hoosier- 
dom at the aforesaid quarterly meeting, and soon 
learned to love the Indiana people and admire their 
ways. Among the sturdy members of the church 
then living at Muncytown were Samuel Harlan, Job 
Swain, Abram Baurgelt, James Hodge, and James 
Nottingham. Jack&Russey was the style of the 
principal mercantile firm. ( Both members -of the 
firm had Christian wives.) Dr. Anthony was one 
among the leading physicians. 

Early in the spring Brother Hull and his colleague 
held a two days meeting at Moores school house. 
The times were stirring. Both religious and polit- 
ical excitement ran high. The meeting was not 
in vain. Souls were converted, and believers sanc- 
tified. On the Sabbath the preacher-in-charge said 
to the junior, "You must preach," and, without 
flinching or whining, the junior went at it in the 
name of the Lord of hosts. He announced as his 
text the 5th verse of the 20th Psalm, and did what 
he could to turn the tide of public feeling in favor of 
the "banner" of the cross, and the government of 
Christ. This well meant effort was followed by an 
exhortation such as only John H. Hull could give. 

During the summer of this year, 1840, some of the 
most remarkable revivals took place that were ever 
witnessed in the West. They were not, as a rule, 
the result of " protracted meetings, " as the phrase 
is usually understood, but of what were known as 
<l two-days meetings. " At one of these meetings held 
by Hull and Smith, at the house of John Life, on the 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 37 

north bank of the Mississinevva river, the divine 
power was so manifest that some of the most ungod- 
ly old trappers and hunters present, were heard to 
say, " We never saw anything like this before. " Mr. 
Life's house was a log cabin, i6xi8feet, with a broad, 
open fire-place; puncheon floor; "cat and clay" 
chimney ; clapboard roof, held on by knees and 
weight poles ; home-made, clapboard doors, with 
wooden hinges and wooden latches — " the latch 
string out. " The door latch, in all such houses, was 
operated from the outside by means of a string ; 
taking the latch string in, was, in effect, to lock the 
door as against outsiders ; to say, " Our latch string 
is out, " was a profession of hospitality. The one 
room of Mr. Life's cabin served as a church, sitting- 
room, parlor, and bedroom. When the weather per- 
mitted the cooking was done by a huge log-fire out 
doors, and, at such times, the door-yard became the 
dining hall. 

The meeting at Mr. Life's began on Saturday. 
Large numbers were present at the first service. 
The interval between the forenoon meeting and 
the night, was mainly devoted to singing and prayer 
in behalf of penitent seekers of salvation. The morn- 
ing sermon by Brother Hull had brought a number 
to repentance, and, before the day closed, not a 
few of them were converted. Some devoted the 
afternoon to secret prayer, retiring for that pur- 
pose into the depths of the forest, and coming to 
the evening service happy in a Savior's love. That 
which gave character to the meeting, however, more 
than any thing else, making it ever memorable to 
all present, was the conversion of Mrs Life, the lady 



38 INDIANA METHODISM, 

of the house, at the love-feast Sunday morning. 

Mrs Life was a native of Pennsylvania, — a woman 
of flashing intellect and superior culture. Having 
been brought up a Lutheran, she had become 
strongly prejudiced against the Methodist church. 
She married John Life, as she afterwards said, be- 
cause she loved him, and believed him to be a good 
man in spite of his Methodism. Her friends were 
outraged, and disinherited her, because she married 
a Methodist. And for his sake she was willing, as 
an affectionate and devoted wife, to undergo all the 
labor, care, and inconvenience incident to such an 
occasion, all the while feeling that, aside from pleas- 
ing her husband, she had no personal interest in 
the meeting. After a number had given in their ex- 
perience at the love-feast, the junior preacher, being 
most solemnly impressed that Mrs. Life ought to 
speak, yet hardly knowing whether to suggest it 
audibly, at last ventured to say, "Will Sister Life 
speak a few words ?" All was silent for a moment, 
till Brother Hull exclaimed, " The Lord bless Sister 
Life!" She then quietly rose, and said: "I was 
baptized in infancy ; I studied the catechism in child- 
hood ; I faithfully attended the church ; I say my 
prayers ; I am a member of the church ; I have been 
religious all my life. My husband is a Methodist, 
and I do not oppose him ; I am a Lutheran, and my 
husband does not oppose me in reference to my 
church. I was a Lutheran when he married me ; I 
am a Lutheran still ; and I expect to live and die a 
Lutheran. " Here she paused, started to resume 
her seat, and had almost reached her chair, when, 
suddenly turning about, her eyes uplifted and arms 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 39 

extended, she cried out, — " But, oh, I'm a sinner ; 
God, be merciful to me a sinner ! Oh, my friends, I 
thought I was a Christian, but I'm not ; oh, I'm a 
sinner ! Oh God, save a poor sinner like me ! Save 
me ! save me ! save me ! O my God ! save me 
now ! " And she was saved then and there. There 
in the love-feast, in the open day, in the presence of 
all that could crowd into the cabin, ( for many had 
to remain without, ) she was soundly and scriptur- 
ally converted to God. The effect of such an occur- 
rence, of such a miracle of grace, for miracle it was, 
may be imagined possibly, but it cannot be described. 
She was not long in changing her church relations, 
and ever after was a helpmeet indeed to her devoted 
Christian husband. Their house was fully dedicat- 
ed to God and his service, and became, from that 
time on, a most delightful resting-place for the way- 
worn itinerant or weary Christian pilgrim. The con- 
secrated old cabin long since, gave place to the mo- 
dern mansion, but the fragrant memories which clus- 
ter about the hallowed spot will perish never. The 
displays of divine power there witnessed, at the two- 
days meeting, will linger among the sweetest mem- 
ories of earth, and become a theme of joyous thought 
in heaven. 

Among the church workers living at the time 
along the Mississinewa, memory calls up the An- 
dersons, the Harbors, the Kings, the Smiths, the 
Porters, the Vincents, the . Gregorys, the Allegrees, 
the Downings, the Strongs, and the Wilsons. Most 
of these were from Green county, Ohio, and former- 
ly members at Old Union, on Union circuit. 

The third quarterly conference decided on hold- 



4<D INDIANA METHODISM, 

a camp-meeting in connection with the fourth quar- 
terly meeting. A convenient location was found on 
Campbell's creek. At a time appointed the two 
preachers, together with a goodly number of the 
good people, both male and female, met on the 
designated camp-ground, to clear away the rubbish, 
and make ready for the meeting. 

The first thing in order, however, was a sermon 
by Brother Hull. Mounting the stump of a "coon 
tree," he delivered an appropriate discourse on, 
" Work while it is day ; for the night cometh, 
when no man can work." The sermon over, the 
people went to work with a will, to prepare the way 
of the Lord, " and " a highway for our God. " 

The camp-meeting came on in the latter part of 
August. Among the ministers in attendance were : 
Robert Burns, the presiding elder ; Joseph Ocker- 
man, Bardin H. Bradbury, Ssth Smith, Hezekiah 
Smith, John S. Donaldson, and the two circuit 
preachers. Burns was modest, amiable, and tend- 
er, — a capital preacher, and a powerful exhorter. 
Bruce was of Teutonic mould, strong in argument, 
and somewhat pugilistic. Ockerman was delicate 
in person, feminine in voice, and a sweet singer. 
Bradbury was mighty in prayer, mighty in the 
Scriptures, a sound theologian, and an able preacher. 
Seth Smith was a chaste speaker, a Christian gentle- 
man, and a pious, lovable minister. Hezekiah Smith 
was a great worker, an excellent pastor, a persua- 
sive exhorter, and a most successful minister. Don- 
aldson was of Hibernian extraction — eccentric, 
ready witted, an expert at repartee, a good exhorter, 
and a good preacher. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 41 

One of the rules adopted by the tent-holders for 
the government of the meeting was, that, when the 
trumpet sounded at the close of the night service, 
all should retire to rest or leave the ground. 

The preaching on the Sabbath by the presiding 
elder and others had been as "good news from a 
far country" to the multitudes that thronged the 
gates of Zion, and the evening services had extend- 
ed far into the night, when, the altar exercises hav- 
ing come to a close, the night bugle, so ominous to 
the rowdy, sounded forth the notice for all to re- 
tire. 

Soon the camp was in comparative quiet, with 
most of the lodgers in the preachers' tent snugly 
folded away in the arms of Morpheus. The pre- 
siding elder had taken his place for repose between 
Brother Bruce and the junior preacher, the last of 
the clerical occupants of the place to resign him- 
self to slumber. At a late hour three of the baser 
sort among the rowdies, sought shelter and lodging 
in near proximity to the sleeping parsons, under 
the preachers' stand. They had not been there 
long before they commenced growling, barking, 
howling, and hooting. Among the names they as- 
sumed in addressing each other were, Mocking- 
Bird, Big- Gray- Wolf, Old-Towser, Etc. Finally 
they began to sing a parody on a familiar hymn, 
when the presiding elder began to soliloquise : " Oh 
dear me! what shall I do? Such miserable rowdies'! 
And the fleas ! the fleas ! I can't sleep at all ! " And 
then with an emphasis born of irritation, the good 
man exclaimed : "Brother Bruce, you and Brother 
Smith, get up at once, and move those night-owls 



42 INDIANA METHODISM, 

from the camp-ground." The two brethren sallied 
forth in obedience to the orders of their district 
commander. Brother Bruce, taking the lead, plant- 
ed himself at the entrance of the strange appartment 
where the disturbers of the peace were lodged, and 
called out to them, "Come out of there instanter ; 
come out of there, I say. " Reluctantly they crawled 
forth, when Brother Bruce continued, "Don't you 
know that the sounding of the trumpet at night, 
after service, is the signal for all to retire or leave 
the ground ?" Two of the three instantly fled. The 
other, standing like a statue, was thus addressed by 
Brother Bruce : "Sir, I say, you must retire to rest 
or leave the ground." The man protested that he 
had no place to retire to. " Then leave the ground, " 
was the prompt response of Brother B. " Well, " 
said the rowdy, " may I go where I have a mind to ?" 
"Anywhere, sir, so you leave the ground." And 
you promise not to interfere with me if I leave the 
ground ?" "Yes, go where you please, sir ; all I 
ask, is, that you leave the ground." The fellow, 
who had been standing all the while with his back 
to a tree, instantly whirled and, with a cat-like 
bound, sprang up into the tree. " What do you 
mean, sir?" demanded Brother Bruce. "I mean to 
obey orders," responded the rowdy; "you ordered 
me to leave the ground ; I have left the ground as 
you required ; and now I hope the preacher will be 
as good as his word, and let me alone. " 

The fourth quarterly conference was held on Mon- 
day afternoon, at a little log school-house about a 
quarter of a mile from the camp-ground. 

One of the important questions to be decided, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 45 

was, Shall the junior preacher be recommended as 
a suitable person to be received into the traveling 
connection? When this question was called the ju- 
nior retired, and the powwow began. Noble Greg- 
ory, Thomas Vincent, William Downing, Thomas 
Leonard, and Elisha Harbor, local preachers ; Abra- 
ham Baurgelt, Borter Gipson, Jacob Windowmaker, 
and Father Goff, exhorters ; Daniel Brewington, Job 
Swain, Nathaniel Dickson, and about twenty-five 
others, class leaders, besides the preacher in charge, 
all took a turn at "representing" the candidate. 
After all the others had spoken Brother Hull made 
substantially the following speech : "Mr. President, I 
have patiently listened to the representations of the 
brethern. Some of these representations ; as I think 
are just ; some of them are erroneous. I have 
diligently watched Brother Smith's progress from 
the beginning. At the close of his first round on the 
circuit, some of the people were not very well 
pleased with him as a preacher. They said he was 
cold and formal ; they thought he would make a 
good Presbyterian minister, but doubted whether he 
would do for a Methodist preacher. The second round 
he did better. The people began to say, 'Why, the 
young preacher is warming up ; he needs a little 
more fire, but he preaches well, and we believe he 
will come out all right.' And now, Mr. President, 
for the last two months, and especially since his 
last round on the circuit, the people every-where tes- 
tify that his preaching is as clear as an icicle and as 
hot as a salamander." The recommendation was 
granted without further ado. Meanwhile the subject 
of the discussion was seated on a log some twohun- 



44 INDIANA METHODISM, 

dred yards from the school-house ; but, had he been 
much less than a half mile away, he thinks he should 
have heard every word of Brother Hull's speech ! 

Among the orders issued by the presiding elder 
at the close of the camp-meeting, for the enlarge- 
ment of the work, was one requiring an exploration 
of the "north country" by Hull and Smith. In due 
time they were in the saddle and on their way. Be- 
ginning at the mouth of the Salamonic river, they 
went from one settlement to another, preaching 
wherever they could make an appointment. Their 
first meeting, in this tour, was at a Brother Swims, 
where they had good success in the work of the 
Lord. A number embraced the truth, and united 
with the church. One of the converts was a little son 
of Brother Swim's. He was a very bright little fel- 
low, and, for a child, talked of religion with unusu- 
al readiness and fluency. These many years he has 
been a useful local preacher. 

The next point at which the missionaries pitched 
their moving tent, was at the house of a Brother 
Alexander, a recent emigrant from Kentucky. Mr. 
Alexander had brought with him two of his former 
servants, a man and his wife, once slaves but now 
free, whom the missionaries had the pleasure of lead- 
ing into the liberty of the children of God. The 
aggregate avoirdupois of these dusky descendants of 
Ham was 486 ; 220 for Aunt Agnes and 266 for Uncle 
Aaron. Having found the pearl of great price, they 
were ready of course to be baptised and received into 
the church. "In what manner do you wish to be bap- 
tized?" inquired Brother Hull. Uncle Aaron prompt- 
ly responded : "Why, chile, we wants to be 'mersed, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 45 

De Laud he went down into de water, an' he come 
straight up out of de water ; an' me an' Aggy wants 
to follow right 'long in de good way our blessed Je- 
sus go." 

Brother H. — "All right, Uncle Aaron ; but where 
shall we go to baptize you ?" Uncle A. — "Why, 
chile, doan you know what Philip said to de Unerk ? 
Come an' see." There was a creek not far from the 
house, and Uncle Aaron declared he knew of a deep 
hole under a willow tree, not more than a half mile 
away. At once preachers and people set out for 
the place where "John" was about to baptize, be- 
cause there was supposed to be "much water there." 
The deep hole proved to be a shallow pool, with 
much grass in it, and a high bank on either side. 
The prospect didn't seem very encouraging for a 
sucessful immersion ; anyhow the administrator, in 
viewing the ground over, could hardly conceal the 
fact that he felt a little dubious as to the results of 
the proposed undertaking. The Apostles' creed 
had been repeated by each of the applicants, the 
baptismal vows had been taken, and the time had 
come for a going down into the water, when Uncle 
Aaron, who had been critically surveying the pool 
and considering his own huge dimensions, exclaim- 
ed, "Shore's you're born, Brudder Hull, dat water 
am to low ; but I tells you now what to do : you jest 
take Aggy down dar, an' put her into de water as 
much as possible, an' if de water kivers her all over 
proper good, den I goes in." The lithe, active ad- 
ministrator bounded to the waters edge ; Aunt 
Aggy was assiste'd to his side ; and while Uncle 
Aaron, with deep emotion sang, 



46 INDIANA METHODISM, 

"I'm a Zion traveler, 

Won't you go wid me dere ?" 

the twain, Brother Hull and Aunt Aggy, found on 
reaching the deepest part of the pool, the water 
was about half way to the knees, a little dextrous 
management on the part of the preacher, brought 
the huge form of Aunt Aggy to a horizontal position. 
It was no fault of hers or of the administrator that she 
was immersed only on one side ; and so poor Aggy 
received only a partial immersion. She had gone 
down into the water ; now the serious question was, 
how to bring her up out of the water. The law of 
gravitation, so helpful in the descent, was no longer 
to be counted on except as an opposing force. The 
task was not an easy one, but, with Uncle Aaron on 
the bank and Brother Hull in the water, working 
like two engines at a heavy train, one pulling 
and the other pushing, at length, the ascent was 
accomplished. Uncle Aaron was disappointed. 
"Now, brudders," he said, "doan you see de water 
am to scace ? Not 'nuff water to kiver Aggy : 
not 'nuff water anywhar to kiver me. Kase, you see, 
de season am very dry ; I waits den till the fall 
rains sets in 'fore l's baptised. De Laud bless you, 
Brudder Hull. Dey calls you Hull, but you is no 
hull— you is de kernal, de very marrow in de bone. 
And de Laud bless you, Brudder Smith. We po' 
critters is mighty thankful to you 'an Brudder Hull 
for comin' way out here in de woods to preach de 
eberlastin' gospel to us sinners. May de Laud bless 
you bofe' an give you a heap o' souls for your pay, 
Such in substance were a few of his utterances. The 
speech of the poor unlettered African was so artless, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 47 

simple, sincere, and pathetic withal, that tears came 
unbidden to the eyes of many, even of those who 
had just witnessed the grotesque scene of Aunt Ag- 
gy's immersion. 

Bluffton, the now flourishing seat of justice of 
Wells county, was the next objective point marked 
out on the route of the missionaries. Hire they 
were kindly received, and most hospitably enter- 
tained at the house of that good man, and prince 
in our Israel, Brother Studabaker. Main street 
had been cleared out, i. e., the trees had been felled, 
but the high stumps were standing, and the logs 
had not all been removed. A rude court-house 
had been erected, which the misionaries were per- 
mitted to use as a sanctuary. After preaching and 
visiting a few days, they took leave of their kind 
host and his estimable wife, with a sincere "God 
bless you" at the parting, and going forth, sowing 
the seed of the kingdom as they went, they return- 
ed, £7Vz,"limberloss and loblolly,"to their own circuit. 

The same autumn another camp-meeting was 
held, this time at the Timberlake settlement, the 
same corps of preachers as at the Campbell's-creek 
meeting. The junior preacher set out for the meet- 
ing from Sutton's, one of the preaching-places of the 
circuit, a place identical with the spot where Dun- 
kirk, in Jay county, now stands. The road or trail 
along which he threaded his solitary way led through 
a dense forest twelve miles without a house. As he 
pressed forward on his journey he came at length 
to a place where two ways met. Here he sat for a 
time on his horse, wondering which of the two ways 
he should take, when, peering about through the 



48 INDIANA METHODISM, 

brush, he discovered this inscription on the smooth 
bark of a beech-tree, "Take the right-hand road for 
the camp-ground," an inscription which some one 
had written by dipping his finger in mud. 

Further on he passed a man making boards to roof 
a cabin. The cabin had just been raised to the 
square, and "scutched" down, being now ready for 
the rib-poles and roof. The man was familiar with 
the forest and gave the preacher some practical 
directions to help him on his way. A strange ex- 
perience, after leaving this point, awaited the itin- 
erant. He was making his way, as best he could, 
over fallen trees and through prickly-ash swamps, 
when, to his great surprise, he suddenly emerged 
upon a large clearing. In the distance he saw a 
house, barn, and orchard, with surroundings similiar 
to those seen in old and well settled countries. Be- 
hind him was the dense, gloomy forest, so dense in 
many places that no ray of sunshine had ever pene- 
trated its somber shades ; before him, a large well- 
cultivated farm, with all the appointments seeming- 
ly of convenience and comfort. The transition was 
so sudden, so unexpected, and the contrast so great, 
the traveler could hardly credit his senses. 

As he drew nearer the large full-bearing orchard 
and well-constructed dwelling, wonder quickened 
his curosity to learn something about the large fam- 
ily, as it appeared to be, that occupied the premises. 
Hitching his horse, he approached the house, and 
gently knocked at the door, when a sort of grunt 
from within answered, "Come in." As he opened 
the door, the children, some fourteen in number, 
scattered in every direction. Some shot out at the 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 49 

back door, others ran under the beds, while some of 
the smaller ones gathered about the mother's chair 
gazing wildly at the stranger. Hardly knowing what 
to say, yet extremely desirous of making himself 
agreeable, he ventured to inquire how long they had 
lived there. The woman answered with a peculiar 
kind of growl, from which he rightly inferred that 
she was a half breed or compound of French and 
Indian. Having failed in several attempts to draw 
her into conversation, the preacher finally bethought 
himself to inquire about her husband. She seemed 
agitated, if not alarmed, at the reference to her hus- 
band, and, stepping into the back yard, gave two or 
three shrill whistles. The husband was out on the 
farm somewhere at work, but the alarm she had giv- 
en soon brought him to the house. The preacher 
mow tried to talk with the husdand, but found him, 
at first, almost as unwilling to converse as the grum- 
py matron of the household. The man looked to 
be at least three score and ten ; he was bronzed, 
weather-beaten, and somewhat crippled with rheu- 
matism through exposure ; he had the eye of a lynx, 
and a face expressive of savage ferocity. The woman 
was long, lean, and lantern-jawed, with fiery flash- 
ing eyes, and savage mein. There were several bad 
scars about her face and neck, as if she had been at- 
tacked with a butcher-knife in some drunken row. 
The children were all girls. Some of them had 
reached woman's estate, but they were still children. 
They had grown up like the wild flowers of the 
woods, innocent of the arts of fashion or fashion's 
whim. The lord of the "manor," after considerable 
questioning and encouraging on the part of the 



50 INDIANA METHODISM, 

preacher, gave substantially the following account 
of himself and family : — 

At an early day in the settlement of the Scioto 
valley his father with a large family, emigrating 
from Pennsylvania, settled near Chillicothe, Ohio. 
The Indians were still numerous there, and, the two 
races being on the best of terms, the chidrenofhis 
father's family and the Indian children of the neigh- 
borhood were constant companions and playmates. 
One day he and his brother had been plowing in the 
fields ; at the noon hour his brother climbed into a 
cherry-tree to help himself to the luscious fruit. B 
(for so he was called) essaying to do as his brother 
had done, was peremptorily ordered by his father to 
go to work. Though deeply incensed at his father, 
he said nothing. He hitched his horses to the plow, 
drove to the lower side of the field, left his horses 
standing in a fence corner, deliberately climbed 
the fence, and took to the woods. He was then 
about fifteen years of age and from that day had 
never seen, or heard from, his father, or any mem- 
ber of the family. While relating this patt of his 
story he grew furious, stamped, and frothed like a 
madman. He then went on to say, that, for three 
days after he left home, he ate nothing but berries, 
such as he found wild in the woods, and slippery- 
elm bark, which he gnawed from the trees. The 
fourth day out, he came upon a camp of hostile Indi- 
ans. The hostiles determined to burn him at the 
stake, but, the chief's daughter interceding for 
him, his life was spared. The chief adopted him as 
a son, and so made him the brother and companion 
of his benefactress. That was how he came to adopt 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 5 I 

the life of an Indian. He had been all over the 
West, and seemed perfectly familiar with such places 
as Ft. Wayne, Tippecanoe, Prophet's Town, Wea, 
Vincennes, and Chicago, the Sangamon, Illinois, 
Fox, and Mississippi rivers. 

Early in his Indian life, when he became the owner 
of a rifle, in company with an Indian companion, he 
went back to his father's neighborhood in mid win- 
ter, for the express purpose of taking his father's 
life. He and his companion lived in the woods for 
several weeks, he said, whence they would stealthi- 
ly creep about the premises, trying to get a shot at 
the old "he bear," as he styled his father. Failing 
of a chance to accomplish his murderous intent, he 
bid a final farewell to the scenes of his childhood, to 
roam with the children of the forest. The Indian 
maiden that saved his life in due time became his 
squaw. After a roaming life of many years he and 
his squaw made up their minds to settle down. 
"And we settled here," he said. "These apple-trees 
we packed on our ponies from Vincennes." "We 
went to work. I cleared ground in the summer, the 
old woman and the gals pickin trash and burnin* 
brush. In the winter I hunted and sold furs and 
deer skins, and by the time the land came into mar- 
ket I had money enough to get me a quarter sec- 
tion, and here I am about worn out. I have always 
had good range here until now. Beats all how the 
people are crowdin' into this country. Just now 
there's a fellow buildin' a house out south a piece, 
not more'n four or five miles from me. I recon you 
passed his house comin' through ? Old as I am I 
shall have to sell out and go to a new country ; for 



52 INDIANA METHODISM, 

I tell you, boss, I can't stand it to be jammed and 
scrouged in any such way." 

Bidding adieu to these queer backwoods people, 
the young preacher hastened on towards the camp- 
ground. He reached his destination in time for the 
evening service, and had the pleasure of listening to 
an able, soul-stirring sermon by the Rev. John H. 
Bruce. The country was new, and the "sickly 
season" was now at its hight ; as a consequence 
there were but few tent holders on the ground. 
Sinners were converted and believers strengthened, 
but, all in all, the success of the meeting was hardly 
up to the usual-standard. 

The "fifth" quarterly meeting for the conference 
year, was held at Jackson's, on Prairie creek. The 
sum allowed the preacher-in-charge for the year 
was $216; the claim of the junior preacher, for the 
time he served, was received on the basis of $100 a 
year. Letter postage for five hundred miles or over 
was 25 cents, payable at the office of delivery. The 
scarcity of money may be inferred from this, that 
well-to-do farmers, or others, were known to per- 
mit letters to remain in the post-office for weeks 
and even months, being unable, as they often were, 
to raise sufficient money to pay the postage. At 
this last official meeting for the year, the circuit was 
well represented. Leaders and stewards, one or 
more, were present from each of the twenty- eight 
appointments. These good men had been hard at 
work, to collect in full the sums estimated for the 
support of the preachers. A more liberal people, it 
ought to be said, than the people of Muncytown 
circuit, in 1840, were not to be found. Money,as a 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 53 

rule, they did not have, but such as they had, they 
freely gave — as, for instance, linsey-woolsy, tow-lin- 
en, jeans, blankets, socks, wheat, corn, pork, veni- 
son, wild turkies, Etc. Every appointment had 
been thoroughly canvassed, and the reports brought 
in were found to be quite respectable. The money 
paid in amounted to the sum of $7,375. This was 
placed on the table, and one of the stewards piled 
it up, piece at a time, in a conical pile. The mon- 
ey of course was all silver, and consisted of 12^ cent 
pieces, "bits," and 6\ cent pieces, or "nps." This 
unexpected liberality in the form of money made 
old Brother Jackson especially happy. Walking 
round the table with his arms akimbo, his eyes fixed 
on the glittering pile of silver, he exclaimed, "Bless 
the Lord, our preachers won't starve this year." 



54 INDIANA METHODISM, 

CHAPTER IV. 

BISHOP SOULE AND SON. 

The Indiana Conference of 1840 was held in the 
hall of the House of Representatives, beginning on 
Wednesday, October 21. Bishop Soule presided. 
The presiding elders were : C. W. Ruter, E G. 
Wood, A. Eddy, John Miller, T. J. Brown, E. R. 
Ames, H. S. Talbott, James Havens, Robert Burns, 
G. M. Beswick, Aaron Wood, and John Ercanbrack. 

Twenty-four were admitted on trial : namely, 
Philip I. Beswick, Daniel S. Elder, Elam Genung, 
John L. Smith, Charles W. Miller, Daniel Mcln- 
tyre, John W. Mellander, Robert H. Calvert, John 
B. DeMotte, Brinton Webster, Isaac M. Stagg, 
Allen Skillman, Martin J. Hofer, Charles B, David- 
son, Asbury Wilkinson, Colbreth Hall, Morris Ben- 
ton, Nathan S. Worden, Freeman F. Sheldon, 
Thomas Goodwin, Samuel Smith, William C. Smith, 
John Kisling, and William C. Jones. 

Thirteen were admitted into full connection ; to 
wit, Seth Smith, John L. Kelly, Cyrus Nutt, Fran • 
cis A. Conwell, James Hill, Josiah J. Cooper, Joseph 
S. Beswick, John Talbott, Lucien W. Berry, George 
W. Stafford, John H. Hull, George Havens, and 
James Crawford. 

Fifteen were ordained elders ; namely, Isaac 
Crawford, William Meginnis, William H. Goode, 
Ezra L, Kemp, William M. Fraley, Anthony Rob- 
inson, Lucien W. Berry, Miltiades Miller, Amos 
Bussy, Jared B. Mershon, John H. Bruce, George 
M. Boyd, Jacob Colclazer, and Josiah J. Cooper. 



SKETCHES AND ICIDENTS. 55 

Some of these received ordination as elders by vir- 
tue of their having been local deacons for two 
years. 

Allen Wiley was the stationed preacher at In- 
dianapolis On arriving in the city Brother Hull 
and his colleague ( now an applicant for admission 
on trial), called on Pastor Wiley, to receive their 
assignments for entertainment during the confer- 
ence session. Having received his own assignment, 
Brother Hull inquired, "And where is the young 
man, my colleague, to go ?" The old gentleman 
grew red in the face, nervously threw his glasses 
astride of his nose, ran his eyes hurridly over his 
list of assignments, and said, " He can go to John 
E. Foudry's, but, — as the name of your friend is 
not on my list, I'll see about that. " Candidates 
for admission were not expected to attend confer- 
ence, and no provision was made for their enter- 
tainment. That was the rule. Pastor Wiley was 
a little embarrassed therefore by the situation, es- 
pecially in view of Brother Hull's solicitude. The 
junior was well provided for, however ; and, if it 
need be said, he greatly enjoyed the conference, — 
having nothing to do but to take note of men and 
things as he loitered in the lobbies and committee 
rooms or carefully watched the conference proceed- 
ings. 

Promptly at the hour appointed for the opening 
session, 9 o'clock, a man whose appearance would 
attract attention anywhere, deliberately walked 
down the main aisle, ascended the platform, and, 
after kneeling a few minutes in silent prayer, seated 
himself in the Speaker's chair. That remarkable 



56 INDIANA METHODISM, 

person, the observed of all observers, was Bishop 
Soule. His years were not yet three score ; he was 
tall, muscular, athletic ; even as compared with the 
heroic men of the conference, he seemed like an- 
other Saul among the prophets. 

This illustrious man, Joshua Soule, was born in 
Bristol, Maine, in 1781 ; he was admitted on trial in 
the New York conference in 1799, an< ^ appointed to 
Portland circuit, in the province of Maine, with 
Timothy Merritt, preacher-in-charge ; in 1804 he 
was appointed to the Maine district as presiding 
elder, and became a member of the General con- 
ference which met that year, on the 6th of May, in 
the city of Baltimore. He was again a member of 
the General conference in 1808, and, as chairman of 
a committee appointed for that purpose, drew up 
the restrictive rules, which, with slight changes 
since made, yet remain the organic law of the 
church. He was chosen Book Agent in 18 12 ; in 
1824 he was elected to the episcopacy. He had 
been a member of each General conference from 
1804 to 1824 inclusive. This remarkable man, as 
it thus appears, was admitted on trial in the travel- 
ing connection at eighteen years of age ; was ap- 
pointed presiding elder, and became a member of 
the General conference, at twenty-three ; selected 
as committee chairman, to draft the plan of the de- 
legated General conference, and write the constitu- 
tion of the church, at twenty- seven ; elected princi- 
pal Book Agent at thirty-five ; was made a bishop 
at forty-three, and at sixty-two became senior 
bishop. 

An incident occurred the first morning of the con- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 57 

ference that must have been as mortifying to the 
bishop as it was painful to the conference members. 
Joshua Soule, junior, living- at the time in Indiana- 
polis, — eking out a precarious subsistance by the 
practice of dentistry, — reputed as frequently and 
freely indulging in his cups, — came into the hall just 
as the temporary secretary finished calling the roll. 
He tarried not, on entering the hall, but, striding 
rapidly to the front, was soon at the speaker's desk 
with his father. The scene presented a contrast 
that was suggestive and striking. The bishop was 
attired in a faultless suit of black ; the profligate 
was also a conspicuous figure, with collapsed plug 
hat, threadbare pants, and untidy linen, or, in the 
words of Dryden, " unkempt his locks and squalid 
his attire. " The effect upon the audience can be 
imagined better than described. There was first a 
subdued smile in the conference room, a titter in 
the galleries, quickly followed by a look of mingled 
sorrow and pity on the part of the preachers, — of 
disgust on the part of spectators. 

Of the twelve good and true men, who, at that 
conference, composed the bishop's cabinet, all have 
been transferred to the celestial city. They have 
gone to reap the reward of the righteous. Their 
memoirs have been written. They all died in the 
faith. Once they were mortal ; like all other sinners 
saved, they were saved by grace divine. A few 
words regarding each of them may not be out of 
place. 

Calvin W. Ruter had a rather fine physique, with 
a considerable tendency to obesity ; a good deal of 
apparent dignity, with a sort of sanctimonious, aris- 



58 INDIANA METHODISM. 

tocratic air ; and, but for his evident desire to please 
everybody by taking both sides of all questions in 
controversy, he would have been a fair conference 
debater. He was said to be a wise administrator, 
a good presiding elder ; and doubtless he filled an 
important place in the itinerant ranks wherein he 
served his day and generation. 

Augustus Eddy was a man of easy manners, pleas- 
ant address, and, in the days of his strength, a pow- 
erful preacher. His kindness of heart, amiable dis- 
position, and manly, Christian bearing, won for him 
a host of friends wherever he went. 

Thomas J. Brown was a native of Western Virgin- 
ia, and grew to be a man among the rough mountain 
scenes of his native country. Though of a rugged 
exterior, he had a brother's heart ; grace had done 
much in the way of polishing the rough ashler. He 
was literally a "terror to evil doers." His speech 
and preaching were not with enticing words of man's 
wisdom. He was a power of good in his day. 

James Havens was one of the most remarkable 
men of his time. He has often been represented in a 
light that gives no proper idea of the man. Usually 
he has been shown up by newspaper scribblers as 
a notable pugilist, fond of indulging in what such 
writers are pleased to call "muscular Christianity." 
True, when he felt it to be a religious duty, he did 
not hesitate to employ force to quell rowdyism and 
preserve order ; yet he was proverbially kind and 
tender. He was a born general, and, when in com- 
mand, as at camp-meetings, or on other popular oc- 
casions, woe to the man that violated the rules of 
the meeting. Affable, kind-hearted and courteous, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 59 

fearless, brave and true, he was greatly esteemed by 
the better classes of the people every-where. The 
preachers especially loved and honored him as a pre- 
siding elder. He regarded the preachers of his dis- 
trict in a certain sense his family, and was always 
ready to assume any official responsibility for their 
protection and defense. Were a case of alleged im- 
morality brought to his notice, he, as presiding el- 
der with jealous care for the purity of the church, 
speedily sought to ascertain the facts involved. A 
court of inquiry was at once instituted. When the 
accused, duly tried, was found guilty, Mr. Havens 
showed him no quarter ; if, on the other hand, the 
accused was honorably acquitted, Mr. Havens at once 
espoused the cause of the injured man, often, too, 
at the expense of his own popularity. He was not 
the man, for fear of losing the favor of a preacher's 
enemy, to listen in silence, and thereby consent, to 
the words of a defamer ; but, like the brave man 
that he was, never shirking his responsibility as a 
custodian and defender of the men committed to his 
official care and oversight, he was ever ready to do, to 
dare, and, if need be, to die for the right. The intrepid 
and stalwart heroism of this grand man, won for 
him a name that will not, can not perish. When 
trimmers and time-servers shall have been forgot- 
ten, or, if not forgotten, yet remembered only to be 
despised, the name of James Havens will continue 
to be as ointment poured fourth. "James Havens," 
said the late U. S. Senator, Oliver H. Smith, "has 
done more to lay broad and deep the foundations of 
Christian civilization in the West,than any other man 
in the Mississippi valley." 



60 INDIANA METHODISM. 

George M. Besvvick was a model man physically, 
a model man as a Christian and as a minister. He 
had the largest head, and was the youngest man of 
the twelve presiding elders. His words in the pul- 
pit "dropped like the rain and his speech distilled as 
the dew." He was modest and unobtrusive in his 
intercourse with his brethern. As a preacher he 
was the peer of any man in the conference. 

Of John Ercanbrack not so much is known. After 
the year 1840, he was not associated with Indiana 
Methodism. The General Conference of that year 
so changed the conference boundaries as to connect 
his district with Michigan. 

Enoch G. Wood was thus attacked by our quill a 
few years ago, while he was yet living and in active 
service in the church : "Dr. E. G.Wood is the present 
efficient presiding elder of the Moore's Hill District, 
Southeast Indiana Conference. What about him 
forty years ago ? 'There seem,' as our notes of 1840 
say, 'to be two Enoch Woods in the conference. 
They call one long Enoch and the other Enoch G. 
Long Enoch looks to me to be good natured, but not 
very smart ; Enoch G. looks smart, put not very 
good natured.' Long years of faithful labor have 
shown Dr. Wood to be a man of sterling integrity, 
a safe and able theologian, always equal to his re- 
sponsiblities in every place to which the church has 
called him." Had he been favored with a larger 
share of the "milk of human kindness," or with less 
austerity of manners, possibly he might have been 
a still more useful minister. He fell with his armor 
on. He has finished his course ; he has joined the 
heroic band above. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 6-1 

John Miller, tall, manly, sweetly dignified,, his 
face full of sunshine, deeply impressed one by his 
personal appearance as being more than an ordinary 
man. He was a good preacher, an excellent exhort- 
er, and one of the most successful members of the 
conference in winning souls to Christ. When he 
lifted up his voice in song he captured all hearts. 

Edward R. Ames had represented the Greencastle 
District from the conference of 1839 to May, 1840^. 
when he was elected by the General Conference to 
the office of missionary secretary. He still held his 
place, however, in the Indiana Conference after his 
appointment to the secretaryship. He was elected 
bishop at Boston in 1852. As a profound thinker,, 
presiding officer, sagacious and far-seeing church 
statesman, he perhaps had no peer ; as a preacher, he 
was impressive, highly instructive, and sometimes 
exceedingly touching in the simplicity of his gospel 
illustrations. Take him all in all we shall not soon 
see his like again on the Episcopal board. 

H. G. Talbott was, in his early manhood, a suc- 
cessful medical practitioner. A sense of duty im- 
pelled him to abandon his profession for the work 
of the Christian ministry. He was a sound, sensible 
preacher, an agreeable companion, a man of God, 
full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. 

Robert Burns was the writer's first presiding elder 
in Indiana. He may be properly styled " Robert 
the Amiable. " He was a good man and true. He 
died a superannuated member of the North-Indiana 
conference. Never knew a man to whom the words 
of the prophet might be more fittingly applied : 
"They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of 



62 INDIANA METHODISM, 

the firmament ; and they that turn many to right- 
eousness, as the stars for ever and ever." 

Dr. Aaron Wood, the lively, vivacious, sparkling- 
preacher, the genial and companionable brother, 
esteemed, honored, and loved by everybody, was 
the last of the twelve to pass away. In the fall of 
1885, at the session of his conference (Northwest 
Indiana) at Valparaiso, he made the following re- 
quest : " Dearly Beloved Brethren, — At the close of 
the eighty-third year of my natural life, the seventy- 
second of my spiritual life, and the sixty-third of my 
itinerant life as a Methodist preacher, I respectfully 
ask the conference to grant me the superannuated 
relation. Respectfully, 

A. Wood. 

He ascended in triumph to his reward August 
20, 1887. 

In the course of the session — conference of 1840 — 
several things occurred well calculated to make a 
deep impression on the mind of a young man with 
nothing to do but to look, listen, and observe. One 
incident may be mentioned. Presiding-elder Ha- 
vens brought forward the recommendation of a 
young man for admission on trial, the initials of 
whose name were A. P. The Elder, after represent- 
ing the case in his forcible style, — speaking in glow- 
ing terms of the young brother's powers as a preach- 
er, exhorter and singer, — resumed his seat, evident- 
ly feeling confident of a large vote in favor of his 
man. The Bishop said : "Is the conference ready 
to vote ? " Just then a sonorous voice came from 
the other side of the hall, "Not ready, " when Pre- 
siding-elder Eddy rose to inquire whether the young 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 63 

mm commended by Bro. Havens was " any kin 
to his brother," a certain Dr. P. "Old Sorrel" 
(a sobriquet given to Mr. Havens by the rowdies.) 
promptly sprang to his feet and said : " Mr. Pre- 
sident, Bro. Eddy asks if the young man is any kin 
to his brother. Why, sir, are we to be governed by 
a rule like that? Was Abel responsible for Cain ? 
or Joseph for the meanness of his brethren who 
sold him into slavery ? Who, sir, could stand to be 
judged by such an unrighteous rule as that ? could 
you, Mr. President? ( Here, doubtless, the scene 
of the day before came up before the bishop and the 
conference. ) No, sir, there is not a man on the 
conference floor that would consent to be judged in 
that way. I know I would not, and I know you 
would not, sir; and, as I happen to know, if a rule 
like that had been in force when the question of ad- 
mitting my friend Eddy was brought up— a rule like 
that, sir, would have been the last of him. " This 
impromptu speech, especially the closing sentence, 
was uttered in the impassioned style peculiar to the 
heroic old Roman, and evoked a ro und of applause 
from the galleries. (The applause, of course, was 
promptly suppressed by the chair.) The effect of 
the speech upon the conference may be judged from 
the fact, that the young man was admitted on trial 
by a vote almost unanimous. 

The bishop's address to the class about to be re- 
ceived into full connection, was listened to with pro- 
found attention by the large audience present. The 
eloquent and forceful utterances of the bishop made 
a lasting impression on the mind of the young man 
from Muncytown circuit, and doubtless had much to 



64 INDIANA METHODISM, 

do with the shaping of his after career as a travel- 
ing preacher. Some of the bishop's sayings are dis- 
tinctly remembered. Commenting on the rule, "Be 
punctual," he gave some illustrations drawn from 
his own experience and the experience of others ; 
warming up with the progress of his interesting and 
telling argument, he rose on tiptoe, and stretch- 
ing forth his long arm, came to his climax with the 
words, "Brethern, let nothing but absolute impossi- 
bilities hinder you from keeping your engagements." 

Just before the appointments were read the bish- 
op made another telling address, which he closed as 
follows : — 

"Some of you brethern will be disappointed : but,. 
remember, some of the people will also be disap- 
pointed. All of you preachers will not get the places 
you have expected ; nor will all the churches get 
the preacher they have expected. Disappointments 
are inevitable ; they cannot be avoided. To the 
preachers I would commend the example of one of 
the most able' and pious ministers of the South. 
There was a certain appointment in that good broth- 
er's conference, among the lagoons, mosquitoes, and 
alligators, — a place dreaded by all, it was supposed. 
The work had been supplied by inexperienced, and, 
often, inefficient men. The time had come, it was 
thought, to give the charge a more efficient ministry, 
and so the good brother alluded to, was appointed 
to that work. The presiding bishop read the ap- 
pointments slowly, and, on coming to the name of 
the dreaded charge, pronounced it, and then made a 
long pause. A death-like stillness ensued. A hor- 
rible nightmare seemed to rest upon the conference. 



SKETCHES AND INC] DENTS. 6$ 

At-last the name of the brother appointed to the 
charge was announced ; but, to the surprise of every- 
body, instead of manifesting a sense of affliction, the 
good man bounded from his seat, and, exulting cried 
out, 'Thank the Lord for any place to preach Christ, 
and win souls.' 

"And now to the people," continued the bishop, 
"I would commend the example of the Choctaws. 
A missionary had been with them for years that 
was greatly beloved ; but, in the judgment of the ap- 
pointing power, it was thought advisable to move 
him to another field. The Indians, greatly distress- 
ed at the loss of their beloved minister,Father Smith, 
sent their chief to the bishop with the request that 
the order removing the missionary be countermand- 
ed, and that he be sent back without delay. The 
bishop, reasoning the case with the chief at some 
length, and telling him, 'The change was not made 
to afflict your people, but in view of the pressing de- 
mands of the work,' sent him back to explain the 
matter to his people. After a little the chief return- 
ed, and said, 'We will take the new man, and pray 
for him six moons ; then, if he will not do, we shall 
expect you to take him away, and send us back Fath- 
er Smith.' Now that is the way for you people to 
do,"Said Bishop Soule. "Kindly receive your preach- 
er, whoever he may be, and pray for him six moons ; 
and doubtless God will bless him and make him a 
great blessing to you. Certain it is you will think 
much better of your preacher after you have thus 
prayed for him." 

The reading of the appointments was followed,on 
the part of the preachers, by a little hurried hand- 



66 INDIANA METHODISM, 

shaking, a few brief parting words, — a "God bless 
you," or a "Good-by," and all were off to their work 
for another year. 



CHAPTER, V. 
WINCHESTER CIRCUIT— SMOKED HAM. 

Among the appointments announced by Bishop 
Soule at the close of the Indiana Conference, Octo- 
ber, 1840, for the ensuing conference year, were : 
Winchester District— a new district — R. Burns, pre- 
siding elder ; Winchester Circuit, J. H. Bruce and 
J. L. Smith. Brother Bruce, who had traveled the 
circuit the previous year, continued his residence 
at " Economy, " a small village in Wayne county; 
his assistant, the junior preacher, made his head- 
quarters at Spartanburg, in Randolph county. 

Winchester, the head of the circuit, contained a 
kind- hearted and very hospitable population. Here 
lived the " Kisers, the Goodriches, the Monks, the 
Browns, the Wades, " and many others quite as 
worthy as these. Judge Goodrich, formerly a dis- 
tinguished attorney, had but recently moved from 
Virginia ; and, for the purpose of providing better 
business facilities for his younger brothers, had es- 
tablished himself as a merchant in the goodly 
county-seat of Randolph. 

By advice of the preacher-in-charge, Junior, on 
making his first appointment at Winchester, put up 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 6j 

at Judge Goodrich's. He was received at the Good- 
rich home with a hearty welcome, and was enter- 
tained according to the generous style of Virginia 
hospitality — the heartiness of his welcome in no way 
diminishing on its becoming known that he was a 
native of the Old Dominion, and the son of a family 
classed as one of the F. F. V.'s. On making a call 
at the judge's store, Junior was surprised to see, 
among the numerous customers present from the 
surrounding country, an old neighbor from Ohio, a 
now aged man, who, at an early day, had migrated 
to Indiana. Junior had not seen him for many 
years, and had almost forgotten that such a man as 
" Zebedee Cantrell " had ever lived. He was a man 
in good circumstances, and respectably related ; 
but unfortunately ; had contracted habits of in- 
temperance, and, at the time now referred to, was 
evidently, to some extent, under the influence of 
strong drink. The unexpected meeting of the man, 
awoke the power of slumbering recollection. A 
panorama of forgotten scenes were brought up in 
rapid review. Junior secretly wished he might not 
be introduced to the man, and said to himself, " If I 
am introduced, I hope I shall not be recognized. 
But before there was time for any formal introduc- 
tion, the old pioneer drew nigh, and, surveying the 
preacher from head to foot, thus began : " I say, 
stranger, ain't your name Smith ?" Here the Judge 
interposed with—" Yes, Mr. Cantrell, that is our 
young preacher, Brother Smith ; I hope you will 
come and hear him preach, and get better acquaint- 
ed with him." "See here, Jedge," said Zebedee, "your' 
nowhere ; why, I've knowed this boy from his 



68 INDIANA METHODISM. 

childhood ; he had the best old Methodist mother 
in Green county ; and he is the best boy you ever 
saw. Why, Jedge, this boy once saved me from a 
big lickin' at a general muster at Caesarville. You 
see, I was a little , "how come you so, " and two 
big strappin' fellows jumped onto me ; but this boy 
happened to be at hand, and he just cleaned 'em 
both out in less than no time ; and you see, Jedge, 
I've kinder liked him ever since. And I can tell 
you more, Jedge. Once I was in Xenia when Main 
street was knee deep in mud — well, it was not just 
exactly what one would call mud, but a kind o' 
fritter batter; and I was " putty well up, " swing- 
ing' long first one side and then t'other side of old 
gray, when my saddle girth broke, and down I 
come kerwhallop in the mud ; it was cold and rain- 
in', and there lay old Zeb from shoulder to flank 
in the loblolly. And then the clerks and the people 
in the shops and stores all went to laughin' at me ; 
but this here boy, Jedge, just waded right out in the 
rain and mud, fixed my saddle girth, helped me into 
the saddle, and fixed my hands in old gray's mane, 
and I went right straight home ; and, Jedge, this is 
the first time I've, seen the boy since. And now, 
Jedge, I want to do something for him ; so, if he 
wants anything out of your store, let him have it, 
old Zeb's good for it. " Then turning, to Junior : 
" Now, my son, anything I've got is yours. I want 
you to come to my house and see me. You know 
I'm no Christian. I'm a poor, wicked, old man ; 
but I have a large family of boys and girls, and may 
be you can do them some good. I'm a hardened 
old sinner, but I want vou to come and see me. " 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS, 69 

Trading, meanwhile, had ceased ; clerks and cus- 
tomers were all attention, eager to catch every word 
of Zeb's speech. 

Years had passed since the occurrences he re- 
lated. The wonder is that any trace of them should 
have remained in his memory, he being, as he was, 
under the influence of strong drink when they trans- 
pired. Even after so many years of constant in- 
ebriation he was able to relate the facts, including 
minutest details, in consecutive order, exhibiting a 
remarkable memory, despite the whiskey-soaked 
condition of his brain. Poor Zeb ! All through 
the upper Mississinewa country he heralded the 
name of the young preacher, preparing a way for 
the gospel messenger to the cabins of the people ; 
nor did he fail to give freely of his substance for the 
support of the church. His wife and several of his 
children made a profession of religion ; the old 
gentleman also became serious, but it is not known 
whether he ever overcame his appetite or how he 
finally left the world. 

Within the bounds of Winchester circuit there 
then lived many whose names still honor the annals 
of Indiana Methodism. Among the number should 
be mentioned the Hunts. The Rev. Wm. Hunt 
was one of the early Methodist preachers of Ken- 
tucky, a pioneer in Indiana. He was a man of mark 
in the days of his strength ; he was mighty in the 
Scriptures, and — woe to the unlucky wight that 
tempted him into a doctrinal controversy. This 
venerable servant of God lived to smile upon the 
fourth generation of his descendents. 

The home of the honored parents of the Rev. Ner 



JO INDIANA METHODISM, 

Philips, now a prominent member of the North In- 
diana conference, was ever the welcome home of 
the weary itinerant. Ner — was then a nice little 
boy, fond of riding the preachers' horses to water, 
and ever ready, like his pious father and mother, to 
make the preachers comfortable. Not far from 
Brother Philips's, near Brother Edmund's, and close 
to a meeting-house called Union, there lived a 
pious little German brother, at whose house, on a 
certain quarterly-meeting occasion, the presiding el- 
der, Brother Burns, and the two circuit preachers, 
Bruce and Smith, all took dinner together. While 
they were at the table the following colloquy took 
place : Burns (addressing the German) — " Well , 
Brother, how are your preachers getting along?" 
German. — "Veil, I does not hardly know; vats you 
dinks Brudder Bruce ? 
Bruce. — I would rather you'd say. 
German. — Veil, vats you dinks, Brudder Smitt? 
Smith. — Nothing to say, Brother ; you go on and 
make the report. 

German. — Veil, den, I vill. Veil, Brudder Bruce, 
he ish de pig breacher, und ven 'e rains 'e blows 
und 'e snows, Brudder Bruce, (he ish de pig breach- 
er,) he ish not dere. Brudder Smitt, he ish de little 
breacher, und ven 'e rains, und 'e blows, und 'e 
snows, Brudder Smitt, (he ish de little breacher,) 
he ish dere. And Brudder Bruce, (he ish de pig 
breacher,) ven 'e don,t rain, und 'e don't blow, und 
'e don't snow, he ish dere, and de beoples dey ish 
not dere ; but Brudder Smitt, (he ish de little 
breacher,) ven 'e don't rain, und 'e don't snow und 
'e don't blow, he ish dere, and de beoples dey ish 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. /2 

dere too. " — This droll speach of the honest German 
giving an account of his preachers, completely up- 
set the characteristic gravity of the presiding elder,, 
and to all others present, except the preacher in 
charge, was the cause of much merriment. 

At Bloomingsport lived Brother and Sister Hyatt, 
who were always ready to welcome the toiling itin- 
erant to their comfortable home. Brother Webb 
was the class leader. Junior preached at this point 
on a certain week-day occasion, and, in the absence 
of the leader, met the class. Brother Webb could 
not attend the meeting, but gave his family a special 
charge to bring the preacher home with them for 
dinner. On Brother Webb's coming in from his farm 
work at the dinner hour, the preacher, after the usu- 
al salutations, inquired for the class-book, in order 
to mark those present or absent, or sick, as the case 
might be, according to the uniform custom of the 
times. The rule was that the class-book should 
show a correct record of attendance at each class- 
meeting. The leader, Brother Webb, seemed sur- 
prised, somewhat embarassed, at the inquiry ; but, 
soon recovering himself, he said, "Why, haven't you 
heard the news ?" — "No," said the preacher, "what 
news ?" — "Why, that the church here has been de — 
devoured, swallowed up, and is all gone, every mem- 
ber of it." — "Why, what do you mean by such talk 
as that ?" — "Well, I'll tell you how it happened. I 
was out at work in my clearing, and had the class- 
book in my hat. I took off my hat and vest, and 
laid them on a stump. A cow belonging to one of 
the neighbors was browsing about in the clearing 
as I noticed at the time, but I thought nothing- of it 



72 INDIANA METHODISM, 

After awhile I happened to look, and there stood old 
Bos, the vest partially protruding from her mouth, 
chewing as contentedly as if she were standing over 
a basket of nubbins. I ran with all my might, but, be- 
fore I could reach the spot, the vest had disappear- 
ed — vest, hat, and class-book ! That cow had swal- 
lowed the whole business, and now there isn't a 
church member left — all swallowed up and gone." 

John Grubb and Barton Andrews were among the 
active and efficient laymen at the Grubb's appoint- 
ment, as also George Robbins, (father of Rev. Cald- 
well Robbins, now diseased, of Wisconsin,) and 
Daniel Worth at Econemy, who was the recording 
steward, became, in the winter of 1840-41, a convert 
to the extreme views of the Abolitionists as led by 
the notorious Arnold Buffom, who had been brought 
over from England to enlighten the American people 
on the slavery question. Buffom was in the habit, 
in his public lectures, of holding up a copy of the 
constitution of the United States between his thumb 
and fingers, and saying, "If his satanic majesty, the 
devil, had been appointed a committee of one to 
draw up a bill of rights, he would have written just 
such an infernal paper as that which I hold in my 
hand." The spirit of strife thus engendered at Econ- 
emy and at some other places, resulted in the with- 
drawal of Daniel Worth and others from the church. 
One of the leading citizens of Randolph county, 
John Sumwalt, abrother-in law to Henry T. Sample, 
Esq., of Lafyette, opened his house for preaching. 
His house became one of the regular pieaching- 
places of the circuit. There Junior held a watch- 
night meeting, Dec. 31, 1840, the mercury ranging 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 73 

•from 12 to 15 degrees below zero. The house was 
built of hewn logs, was 18x24 feet, and had a huge 
old-fashioned fire place, which, on the occasion re- 
ferred to, was well filled with green beech wood. 
The house being crowded, a chair for the preacher, 
at which he stood while preaching, was placed at 
the front door. The door-shutter being an inch or 
more short, left an open space at the bottom, through 
which poured a steady stream of cold air during all 
the service. As the clock struck 12, all kneel- 
ing, and led by the preacher, the covenant hymn 
was sung. The power of the Most High came down 
upon the people. Some cried for mercy, some pray- 
ed for the mourners, and some shouted aloud for joy 
The meeting continued till about 2 o, clock in the 
morning. The people having at length dispersed 
to their homes, the preacher, on taking off his boots, 
found, to his great surprise, that his heels were both 
frozen. 

In Spartanburg lived the McKims, the Pomeroys, 
the Flemings, the Locks, the Loves, and the Bord- 
ers's. The McKims were Irish, warm hearted, zeal- 
ous members of the church, and devoted to their 
preachers. Ralph M. Pomeroy was a clever sinner, 
his wife an excellent Christian lady. They were both 
very kind to the preachers, and liberal supporters of 
the church. Mr. Pomeroy was then comparatively 

•poor, but he is now, it is said, a millionaire, of Bos- 
ton, Mass. Brother and Sister Fleming were among 
the excellent of the earth. Their example was a 
power for good in the community. Sister Locke was 
a great shouter and a good woman. Brother Locke 
was a quiet Christian. He and Brother Love, a local 



74 INDIANA METHODISM, 

preacher, and their wives, uniformly, according to a 
preconcerted arrangement, prayed twice every day 
for their preachers and the success of the preached 
word. 

At the Hopewell church worshipped the Laceys, 
the Williamses, the Freemans, Peeks, and others. 
Mother Williams, a devout woman, has long since 
gone to her reward in heaven. The preacher-in- 
charge had instructed Junior to preach a missionary 
sermon at Hopewell, and take up a collection. 
Money was scarce and collections were generally small 
yet several on this occasion contributed a dollar 
each. Mother Williams had but a quarter to con- 
tribute ; but, with a warm heart and a countenance 
all aglow with enthusiasm, she stepped forward to 
the pulpit, laid her offering on the book board, 
then turning toward the congregation, she offered 
such a prayer for missions as perhaps was never 
heard before or since. Apparently under the pow- 
er of a direct inspiration did the elect lady, mother 
in Israel, supplicate the throne of grace in behalf of 
the minister at home and the missionary abroad. 
All hearts were moved by the mighty faith and pa- 
thos of the supplication. 

That good man Brother Lacey, whose son, 
the Reverend J. H. Lacey, is now an active 
and honored member of the Northern Indiana con- 
ference, like Mother Williams, and others of the 
Hopewell class, had been a Quaker or, rather, had 
descended from a Quaker family. He was a na- 
tive of North Carolina, and claimed to be of "Quak- 
er warp and Methodist filling." 

Revival power, like a tidal wave, was rolling over 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 75 

the country. It was not an unusual thing for people 
to be powerfully converted while hearing a sermon, 
or at a class meeting, or in the fields, or in their 
shops and stores. Hundreds were brought to Christ 
at the family alter. 

At the Murray and Kenneday appointments were 
many precious Christians. The country was new, 
and the people were plain in dress and manners, but 
a kinder-hearted people could not be found. Not 
merely the stewards or official members, but the 
people in general seemed concerned for the welfare 
of the preacher and his family. In the vicinity of 
one of the above-named appointments, an incident 
occured, which it may be well to mention for the 
benefit of such as can trust the Lord only when their 
coffers are full. Junior, when making one of his 
grand rounds, called, as his custom was, at a number 
of the road-side houses on his way. On his taking 
leave the people would slip into his "dandy-wagon" 
a present for his family — something,a cabbage head, 
may be, or even a bacon ham. Such at least was 
the general practice. Silver and gold they had not, 
but such as they had, they freely gave. Just before 
reaching one of his preaching-places, he called on a 
very poor family, living on a lease. The man,about 
sixty years of age, looked haggard and wan. There 
were eight children, the eldest about fourteen, the 
youngest about two years old. The mother, sick 
and seemingly heart-broken, was trying to weave 
tow-linen on a rickety home-made loom under a 
frail shed adjoining the cabin. After talking with 
the parents and children, and offering prayer, the 
preacher was somehow led to reflect, — "There are 



j6 INDIANA METHODISM. 

seven hams now in my wagon, and, may be, for this 
poor family, there is more gospel in one of those 
hams than in all my prayers." And remembering 
the words of the Savior, "Freely ye have received,, 
freely give," he took one of the hams and had almost 
reached the door of the cabin, when the spirit of self- 
ishness whispered, "These hams were given to you,, 
why not keep them yourself ?" Determined to re- 
buke the selfish spirit, he answered, "I will give two 
instead of one." The two were taken and laid by 
the door. As the preacher was about to depart, the 
evil spirit came again, saying, "You ought to have 
kept those hams for yourself." Alighting from his 
wagon, the preacher gathered two more hams and 
laid them down by the other two. This he felt con- 
fident would silence the grumbler, but no sooner 
had he regained his place at the wagon, than came 
the selfish whisper, "Now you have made a fool of 
yourself." Thereupon the preacher reined up his 
horse once more, and taking the remaining three, 
carried them to the house and placed them beside 
the others. Then calling the poor woman from the 
shed, where she had resumed her place at the loom, 
he said, "Sister, be kind enough to accept these hams, 
and please say nothing about it." "Oh," she exclaim- 
ed, "do you give them to us ?'' "Certainly," said 
the preacher. She , made an effort to speak, but her 
utterance was choked with emotion. The tears that 
filled her eyes spoke loader than words the grati- 
tude she felt. As the preacher drove away she wav- 
ed a "God bless you" with her hand. Never before 
had Junior felt the force of the saying, "It is more 
blessed to give than to receive." 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. J7 

Junior went on to his appointment, preached and 
met the class. In the afternoon, as he was return- 
ing towards Spartanburg, his home, pleasantly rumi- 
nating on the so newhat novel events of the day, he 
was suddenly aroused by a voice at the road-side, — 
"How are you, Lewis ?" A man coming forward ex- 
tended his hand, and was recjgnized as a cattle 
dealer from Clark county, O'lio, who had come over 
into Indiana to bay stock. "How are you getting 
along out here ?" continued the cattle merchant. 
"Qo these Hoosiers give you anything to live on ?" 
4t Oh, yes," he was answered, "they are very clever 
indeed ; they are very kind and liberal, and willing 
to give anything they have to spare." "But," said 
the dealer, "have they much money?" And with- 
out waiting for an answer he said, "You d m't get 
much money, I recon." On taking leave he reached 
over to shake hands, and dropped something in the 
hand of the preacher, saying, as he started on, "Be 
a good boy, Lewis ; your father was a noble man, 
and one of the best friends I ever had." Junior re- 
sumed his journey towards home, wondering what 
kind of a coin it was he held in his hand, but he did 
not continue long in suspense. After driving a little 
way, he opened his hand, and there lay a glittering 
ten-dollar gold piece. His first thought, on behold- 
ing the coin, was, "Hams pretty well sold after all." 

The conference year closed up with a camp-meet- 
ing, and religious re-union, for the whole circuit, 
near Spartanburg. The meeting was one of great 
interest. The Spirit of grace was poured out upon 
the multitudes in attendance. 

The Annual conference met in the city of Terra- 



?8 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Haute, Oct. b, 1841. Brother Bruce reported, after 
deducting the losses, as by removals and deaths, 
929 members, a net gain of 96. The net gain, for 
the whole conference, was 2520. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PREDESTINATION. — THE OLD SAILOR. 

The appointments for 184.1-42, Indiana Confer- 
ence were in part as follows : Winchester District, 
R. Burns, presiding elder; Winchester, J. H. Hull ; 
Portland, Joseph Okermon ; Muncytown, J .L. Smith; 
Granville, B H. Bradbury ; Marion, Hezekiah Smith, 
B. Webster ; Andcrsontown, J. W. Bradshaw ; Pen- 
dleton, J. S. Donelson ; Bluffton, H. H. Badley ; 
New Castle, J. H. Bruce, S. C. Swaze. 

The old Muncytown circuit had now become two 
charges, — Granville circuit and Muncytown station. 
And Junior, having been placed in charge of the 
station, was permitted to doff the title of Assistant 
and don the title of Pastor. The Station, with one 
country appointment (Borter Gipson's), lad 242 mem- 
bers. Muncytown, now Muncie, was so named in 
memory of a celebrated Indian chief Munsey, whose 
dust reposes on the bank of the White river in the 
immediate vicinity of the town. 

The only house of worship in Muncytown, 1841, 
(situated at one side of the village, remote from the 
center of population,) belonged to the Methodists. 
The trustees, with consent of the pastor, freely per- 
mitted the Presbyterians, with their pastor, the Rev. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 79 

R. Irvin, to occupy the house when not in use by the 
Methodists. Early in the year a meeting of the 
presbytery was held in the church, the attendance 
from abroad included a number of ministers and 
lay elders. Among the more distinguished of the 
clergy was a Mr. Munfort, who had been selected to 
preach an ordination sermon. The old doctrinal 
controversies, as they are now styled, were then 
rife ; and on this occasion, to which the community 
had looked forward with much interest, it was confi- 
dently expected a lively battle would begin. Mr. 
Munfort delivered a learned and very dignified dis- 
course on the subject of "decrees and foreordination," 
advocating the highest of high Calvinistic views. 
Had a bomb-shell been exploded in the quiet little 
town it would have produced nothing like the ex- 
citement caused by Mr. Munfort's sermon. A furor 
for disputation ensued. Everywhere, in the shops, 
in the stores, and on the streets, the people, all 
classes, engaged in a general discussion of '"election" 
or "reprobation" versus the doctrine of "free grace." 
The presbytery closed its meetings, but the ghost of 
controversy wouldn't down. The leading men, there- 
fore, of both churches, determined that the contro- 
versy should be settled by single combat, and se- 
lected the two pastors, Smith and Irvin, respectively 
as their champions. A joint committee of the two 
churches was appointed, to arrange plans, settle de- 
tails, and agree upon a mode of warfare, — to see 
that neither party did injustice to the other, and re- 
quiring that the articles of war be strictly complied 
with on the part of the contestants. 

Mr. Irvin at his first interview with the committee 



So INDIANA METHODISM, 

■of arrangements was asked the question : "Why, if 
you believe it, do you not preach Calvinism ?" He 
answered that his church in Muncie was made up 
mainly of young members, who needed milk rather 
than meat. "You surely would not think," he said, 
"of giving a leg of mutton to a babe, but the time 
will come, when my people will be able to bear 
strong meat." 

This honest avowel of his sentiments was exceed- 
ingly distasteful to not a few of his communicants ;for, 
as a matter of fact, a number of them indignantly 
denied the doctrine of unconditional election and 
reprobation. Some of his people had claimed, by 
the way, that he believed, like the Methodists, in 
the doctrine of free grace. However it was agreed, 
at this meeting, that Mr. Irvin should select his 
own time and method for the statement of his doc- 
trinal views, and that he should not be interrupted 
while making his statement. Mr. Irvin, therefore, 
after observing that he was easily confused in the 
presence of an opponent, announced that he would 
preach a sermon the next Sunday evening, in which 
his views of Calvinism should be clearly defined and 
explained. The hour came The church was crowd- 
ed with eager listeners. Mr. Irvin rose and announc- 
ed as his text, Rom., 8, 32, — "He that spared not 
his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how 
shall he not with him also freely give us all things ?" 
Precisely as some had predicted he would do, the 
preacher went through his discourse without even 
alluding to the matter in controversy, stoutly main- 
taining that, according to the text, Christ died for 
all. At the close of the discourse every eye was turn- 



SKETCHES AND- INCIDENTS. 8'r 

ed toward the Methodist pastor, who then rose and 
said : "Does it not seem a little strange—no, not a 
little, strange, that our friend, having solemnly prom- 
ised to state his "belief" at this time and in this pres- 
ence, should close his sermon and take his seat with- 
out so much as alluding to the subject ?" And is it 
not passing strange that he should select a text for 
this occasion, the doctrine of which, he himself be- 
ing judge, is in perfect harmony with Arminian the- 
ology ? But, my friends, there is much in the force 
of habit. Our brother has been so long preaching 
in a Methodist pulpit, and to a congregation made 
up so largely of Methodist people, he has become 
something of a Methodist himself, unconsciously of 
course, by absorption. Some times men do marvel- 
ously escape from the darkness of Calvinism into the 
light of free grace. And now for the encourage- 
ment of my friend and others of like faith with him, 
I will relate an incident that came under my own 
observation some twenty years ago. There was a. 
love-feast at a place called Old Union in the State 
of Ohio. The Rev. James B. Finley, presiding el- 
der, was seated in the pulpit. Near the close of the 
meeting a venerable looking man, with flowing white 
locks and palsied limbs, arose, and, with quivering 
lips and tremulous voice, asked permission to speak 
a few words for the cause of his master. 'Speak on,' 
responded the presiding elder, 'speak on, bro- 
ther.' The venerable man then proceeded to re- 
late his experience in about the following terms : 
I am by profession a sailor. I was born on the Em- 
erald isle. My Protestant father, to get me away 
from papel influences, bound me to a sea-captain,. 



82 INDIANA METHODISM, 

and I went on board a merchantman as cabin boy 
at eight years of age. After awhile I set out for 
heaven, but, my strange friends, it pains me to say, 
I was led to embark on a Predestination ship. Un- 
fortunate craft ! After much rough sailing, — driven 
about by the winds of " fore-ordination, " and brok- 
en on the rocks of" partial atonement, " and pound- 
ed by the waves of " election and reprobation," — 
the crazy old hulk foundered in the deep water of 
''eternal decrees." When it became evident the 
ship must go to the bottom, I became greatly dis- 
tressed, thinking my fate was sealed ; but, to my 
joy, as I looked out over the watery waste, I saw a 
magnificent ship, under full sail, heading toward our 
wrecked and sinking craft. As she drew nearer I 
saw a brilliant star flaming on her colors, and be- 
neath it written in letters of gold, " The Star ot 
Bethlehem : free Grace to a dying World. " I made 
signs of distress, and the captain sent his long-boat 
and took me on board. This grand old ship, in 
spite of adverse winds or stormy weather, speeds 
prosperously on her way. Soon she will anchor in 
the harbor. This morning, brethren, in triumphant 
faith I pace the deck, sniffing the spicy breezes that 
float down from the fields of the blest, and — I can 
almost see the land ahead. " Mr. Irvin rose and 
said : " I take this as a reproof from God. I ought 
to have preached the doctrines of our church to- 
night ; and I now promise that hereafter I will try 
to do better. " With deep mortification he and his 
people withdrew. And so, almost before it was 
begun, the controversy was ended. 

During the conference year a commodious par- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 83 

sonage was erected in Muncytown, and paid for; 
the church-building was repaired ; and the member- 
ship was increased from 242 to 332. So by the 
close of the year Muncytown was fairly in the field 
with her sister stations of the conference. 

On Saturday evening, Oct. 15, 1842, two presiding 
elders, — Aaron Wood, of the South Bend District, 
and Burroughs Westlake, of the Fort Wayne Dis- 
trict, — together with a goodly number of preachers 
from the north, on their way to Centerville, the seat 
of the conference, arrived in Muncytown, to spend 
the Sabbath. Elder Wood gave the people a rare 
treat Sunday morning at the Methodist church, 
preaching one of his great sermons on "Govern- 
ment as related to the Family, Church, and State. " 
At night the youthful, smooth-faced, graceful Boyd, 
then stationed at South Bend with the eccentric 
Walter Griffith, preached from Psalm 23 ; 1, — "The 
Lord is my Shepherd ; I shall not want." On Mon- 
day morning, Oct. 17, the troop, mustering eighteen 
strong, set out at an early hour, on horse-back, for 
conference. The company was composed of the 
two presiding elders, and G. M. Boyd, W. L. Huff- 
man, W. Griffith, H. B. Beers, E. Holdstock, W. F. 
Wheeler, J. C. Medsker, C. W. Miller, I. M. Stagg, 
W. J. Forbes, E. S. Blue, O V. Lemon, A. Skill- 
man, S. Smith, J. Sparks, and J. L. Smith. 



84 INDIANA METHODISM,, 

CHAPTER VII. 

WYANDOTTE INDIANS — JAMES HAVENS. 

The Indiana Conference met at Centerville, Wed- 
nesday morning, October 19, 1842. The conference- 
was called to order by Bishop Thomas A. Morris. 
The secretary, Mathew Simpson, called the roll,, 
after which several visiting brethern were introduc- 
ed. Prominent among the visitors were James B. 
Finley and E. S. Janes. 

The church then had six bishops. Naming them 
in the order of seniority, they were, — Robert R. Rob- 
erts, Joshua Soule, Elijah Hedding, James O. Andrew, 
Beverly Waugh, and Thomas A. Morris. 

The impressions of our Pastor as he looked upon 
the conference, the presiding bishop, and distin- 
guished visitors, were those of awe and veneration, 
Bishop Morris was of course the central figure of the 
assembly. 

On the second day of the session a certificate of 
location in behalf of J. T. R. was presented, with the 
motion that the brother be re admitted to the trav- 
eling connection. Silence reigned for a time no one 
seeming disposed to say anything either for or 
against the motion. Uncle Jimmy Jones at length 
rose and said : "Mr. President, I know this brother 
well ; I have known him well for a long time, sir. 
He is a good man, sir, in his way, He is a great 
eater, he is a great sleeper, he is a great smoker ; but, 
sir, he don't visit, he won't read and he can't preach 
at all, sir." The motion to re-admit the brother did 
not prevail. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 8$ 

Bishop Morris, though then the junior member of 
the episcopal board, had already reached a com- 
manding position in the church. As a presiding of- 
ficer he was the peer of any of his colleagues ; as a 
preacher, he was a model. Clear in statement, log- 
ical in argument, cogent in reasoning, he was the 
especial favorite of thoughtful people. Sometimes 
he rose above himself into a height of impassioned 
eloquence that gave him irresistible influence over 
an audience. Taciturn in society, he was, neverthe- 
less, a most genial and affable companion. The in- 
mates of the homes he visited, parents, children and 
domestics, honored and loved him. With horse and 
carriage, as the custom was, he "traveled through 
the connection at large," encouraging the preachers, 
preaching the gospel, and caring for the churches. 

Edmund S. Janes was the lithe,, lean, sharp, elo- 
quent secretary of the American Bible Society. 
Representing his work, he made an address to the 
conference that was superb. It may be doubted 
whether in all the great speeches of the bishop's 
long and useful life, he ever rose to a higher point 
in sacred eloquence or commanding oratory than on 
this occasion. If he was scared, as some alleged, 
while making this address,, one might reasonably 
wish he had always remained scared. No thought- 
ful member of the Indiana Conference was at all sur- 
prised to learn, less than two years afterwards, that 
E. R. Janes had been elevated to the episcopacy. 

ThcEev. J. B. Finley, then presiding elder of the 
Dayton District, Ohio conference, was given a royal 
welcome. A number of the Hoosier preachers had 
known him in Ohio, in the days of their boyhood or 



86 INDIANA METHODISM, 

early ministry, — some of them having been licensed 
to preach under his presiding eldership. He moved 
among them like a father among his children. The 
great occasion of the conference was a sermon by 
the "old chief." The fine new church was packed 
almost to suffocation. The Rev. James Havens, even 
then called "old Father Havens," sat in front of the 
preacher, deeply affected by the tearful utterances 
of his father in the gospel. The entire audience 
seemed at times spell-bound. The old hero's recitals 
from his experience as a missionary among the Wyan- 
dotts, including accounts of remarkable conversions 
and triumphant deaths, were thrilling beyond ex- 
pression. Once he had been absent from his station 
a few weeks, visiting friends in southern Ohio, and 
collecting stores for mission. On his return he was 
met a mile or more from the station by a deputa- 
tion of Indians headed by their chief, "Between-the- 
logs." The first salutation of the chief was, "Squaw 
dead," and pointing downward, "in the ground." 
"She git so much sick, and she git so much happy." 
"She sick, she lie down ; she jump up, she so much 
happy. She say 'Good-bye, my chief; good-bye, 
Squire Gray-eyes : good-bye, Mononcue ; good-bye, 
my sisters ; good-bye, my children ; and tell Brother 
Finley me make a good die.' " Many such incidents 
were related. His manner was so artless and effec- 
tive one listening to him could almost think himself 
seated at a camp-fire in the wilderness, listening to 
the words of the simple children of the woods. The 
preacher, in closing his discourse, after giving a 
somewhat detailed account of his early life of wick- 
edness, with a vivid description of his turning to 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 87 

God, and call to preach the gospel, said : "As all 
my old companions and acquaintances thought I 
was crazy, they flocked in great numbers to hear 
me preach my first sermon. My father was a Pres- 
byterian minister, and so, thinks I, I'll get one of 
his old sermons and preach it. The one selected 
had a good deal in it about 'Bel and the Dragon,' 
and so I laid it all out with seven heads and ten horns, 
and started in, but soon found myself in a condition 
somewhat like to thxt of a man starting on a jour- 
ney afoot with a fifty-six pound weight tied to each 
big toe. I was completely confounded. I then 
dropped on my knees, and called upon my God, say- 
ing, 'O Lord, if I am thy servant, if thou hast called 
me to persuade sinners to flee from the wrath to 
come, help me, and help me now.' I rose from my 
knees full of light and joy in the Holy Ghost. The 
The Lord did help me. My stammering tongue was 
loosed. I shouted, exhorted, preached, and sung ; 
then I sung, preached, exhorted, and shouted. Then 
I held a class-meeting. I spoke to all in the house, 
then to all in the yard, then to all in the lane, even 
going out in the big road. Returning to the yard 
gate, I mounted the wood-pile, and spoke at the top 
of my voice, telling the people, if any of them desir- 
ed to join the church, to come on. I took one per- 
son into the church that day, and he was soon con- 
verted. He was a stripling, an awkward, green boy. 
He came to Indiana : God called him to preach ; he 
is now a son of thunder. He was not afraid of In- 
dians. Scalping knives and tomahawks did not 
frighten him. He blazed his way through the woods 
of Indiana. He became familiar with the crow] of 



88 INDIANA METHODISM, 

the bear and the scream of the panther. He is now 
a veteran leader among you ; he is here to night — 
there he sits ! " pointing to the Rev. James Havens. 
"I wish," were his concluding words, — "I wish to 
the Lord I could always get such good fellows as 
Jim Havens into the church." The scene that fol- 
lowed cannot well be described. A sudden impulse 
of some unseen power instantly brought the vast 
multitudes to their feet. Havens sprang from the 
altar to the pulpit, to embrace the "old chief" in 
his arms. The people shouted and screamed. Di- 
rectly the conference choir, as they used to be call- 
ed—John H. Bruce, Wm. F. Wheeler, Walter L. 
Huffman, D. F. Stright, and C. W. Miller,— struck 
up the grand old missionary hymn, "From Green- 
land's icy mountains," when the scene became one 
of awful sublimity. No tongue or pen could de- 
scribe it. 

Our young Preacher-in-charge was, by the clem- 
ency of the brethern, admitted into full connection 
at this conference. His appointment was to Cam- 
bridge and Dublin, and immediately after the con- 
ference closed, on Tuesday evening, Oct. 25, 1842, 
he set out for his new field of labor. • 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. . 89 

CHAPTER VIII. 

GREAT REVIVAL AT LEWISVILLE. 

At Cambridge City lived Ex — Congressman 
James Rariden,Sol Meredith, Ira Lackey, Wm. Con- 
well, sen., and others, who, though not members, 
were strong friends of the church. Prominent 
among the members, were Frederick Drayer, John 
Hosea, Dr. Whelan, and their good wives, together 
with Brother and Sister Conkling, Brother and 
Sister Berry, and the two elect ladies, Mother Wright 
and Mrs. Sol Meredith. There was no house of 
worship in the place, so religious services were held 
either in private houses or in the seminary. The 
Methodists were few, but the Disciples were nu- 
merous. Their preacher was Elder S. K. Hoshour, 
who also had charge of the seminary. 

Mr. Hoshour w r as a scholarly man and a compe- 
tent teacher. He was endowed with many noble 
qualities of mind and heart. He was a popular 
speaker, an estimable citizen, a Christian gentleman. 
He had been eleven years a successful minister in 
the Evangelical Luthern Church ; but, like many 
others of his day, was led to adopt the views of 
Alexander Campbell, of Virginia, as to the subjects 
and mode of baptism. This rendered him unaccept- 
able to his Luthern brethern ; he therefore changed 
his church relations, bringing his great wealth of 
piety and learning over to the new sect, now known 
as "Disciples." Mr. Hoshour, however, did not sur- 
render his piety or integrity of character ; nor did 
he cease to maintain the cardinal doctrines of the 



90 INDIANA METHODISM, 

gospel. He continued to preach with such power and 
demonstration of the Spirit that the Disciples to 
whom he ministered, preachers and people, were 
often "astonished at his doctrine." Sometime after- 
wards he was called to occupy a professorial chair 
in the Indiana Asbury University, — not, as he said, 
to teach religion, but the German language and lit- 
erature. At a later date, and for many years, he 
occupied either the president's or a professor's chair 
in the Northwestern Christian University. Now 
well striken in years* and full of honors, he is ready 
to depart, waiting and watching for the summons 
that shall call him home, to the rest prepared for 
the people of God. 

There was a house of worship at Dublin, two 
miles west of Cambridge, and a society of eighty 
members. As to the members, honorable mention 
may be made of the Fortners, the Lebricks, the 
Hoods, the Pierces, the VanBuskirks, the Parsonses 
and the Albrights. William Fortner, a local preach- 
er, was a man of mark. Though raised a Quaker, 
he was entirely innocent of the non-resistance, anti- 
war principles peculiar to the society of Friends. 
Upright, honest, conscientious, with strong common 
sense, energetic and persevering, an ardent lover of 
Methodist doctrines and usuages, he was a good 
man and a useful minister. Doubtless many have 
arisen to call him blessed, he having taught them 
the right ways of the Lord. In him the young 
preachers always found a special friend. 

Mother Hood was one of the excellent of the earth. 
She raised a respectable family, died in the faith, 

* Deceased. 



SKETCHES .AND INCIDENTS. 91 

and went shouting home to heaven. Her chlidren, 
ornaments in the church she loved so well, live to 
honor her memory. Brother and Sister Lebrick, 
emigrated from Pennsylvania, and settled among 
the earlier pioneers at Dublin. Their house was 
ever the welcome home of the itinerant. Havens, 
Burns, Carter, Scott, Tarkington, and others of the 
fathers, have shared the hospitalities of this "preach- 
ers' home." The Parsons family were distinguished 
for their intelligence and love of learning. Grand- 
father Parsons was the leading temperance man in 
the community : by the pro-whisky people, and beer 
guzzlers generally, he was usually spoken of, as "the 
old fanatic." He had brooded so much over the 
evils of intemperance, had made the temperance 
cau e so much of a specialty, and for so many years, 
first in New York, and then in Indiana, that his men- 
tal balance was probably a little disturbed. How- 
ever that may be, he was a power for good wher- 
ever he went in promoting reform. Parties in Cam- 
bridge and Dublin were preparing to erect a large 
distillery equidistant from the two villages. They 
had purchased building material and machinery, in- 
volving an outlay of several thousand dollars, 
when they were informed by Father Parsons, in a 
very emphatic way, that, if they persisted in build- 
ing the distillery he would burn it to ashes. At first 
they paid little heed to what they seemed to regard 
as the idle threat of a crazy old man. Day after day 
work on the building proceeded ; day after day he 
repeated his threat. Finally he told the proprietors 
that he had burned one large distillery in New York, 
and was now just waiting for an opportunity to de- 



^2 INDIANA METHODISM, 

stroy one in Indiana. The parties wrote to New 
York for information, and, finding that the old gen- 
tleman had burned a distillery as he said, and that 
he had been acquitted by the courts on the ground 
of insanity, they determined to abandon the enter 
prise. So the distillery was not built. 

Brother James Parsons, son of the elder Parsons just 
mentioned, raised a lovely family of children, under 
the maternal care and guidance of one of the best 
of wives and mothers. This elect lady, Sister Laura 
Parsons, was a model woman. She was descended 
from one of the best families of Virginia, in which 
State she was reared and educated. She added to 
the grace of great personal beauty, the charms of a 
refined taste and a cultured mind, — adorned with 
thaf'meek and quiet spirit, which in the sightof God 
is of great price." Willie, her only son, died in his 
youth. Doting parents and fond sisters were thus 
early called to walk in the valley of mourning. The 
three lovely daughters, all members of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church, were liberally educated. They 
married respectably, and are now, with their hus- 
bands, influential and useful members of society. 
Frances, now Mrs. Tompson, resides in Lansing, 
Michigan ; Virginia, now Mrs. McXaggart, in Ross- 
ville, Illinois ; Lydia Ellen, now Mrs. Curtis, in Col- 
umbus Ohio. 

The pastoral charge embraced, besides Cambridge 
and Dublin, Lewisville and New Lisbon, making 
four appointments in all. To these Germantown, 
on the east, was added in the course of the year. 
A distinguished local preacher, Thomas Leonard, 
and Dr. John P. Taylor, once a member of the Ohio 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 93 

Conference, lived at New Lisbon. 

The writer, in his boyhood, had often heard Dr. 
Taylor preach in Ohio, on the Old Union circuit. 
Misfortune had overtaken the doctor in Ohio. He 
first entered into some secular speculation ; he be- 
came involved in debt, lost his property, and quit 
the ministry; finally lost his standing in the church- 
then he came to Indiana, and resumed the practice 
of medicine, in which he had been proficient before 
entering the ministry. 

The doctor was earnestly and affectionately urg- 
ed by the Pastor to re-unite with the church. At 
the close of the first service the doctor rose, and, 
addressing the preacher, said : "Reverend sir, — I 
was for many years a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and, I might add, an acceptable 
minister. How it came to pass that I am out of the 
church, who is most to blame, or whether any one 
at all is to blame, except myself, for my present un- 
fortunate position, I shall not here attempt to ex- 
plain. Suffice it to say, that, after so many years 
of isolation, — a loneliness so utter as to drink up 
my spirits, — I have this day resolved, with the per- 
mission of you my neighbors and this young friend 
(pointing to the preacher), to return to my first love. 
The young man who now in the providence of God 
is our minister, I knew well in other years. The 
son of my friend — his friends were my friends. And 
allow me to say in his presence : You have known 
me only in the late dark years of my humiliation 
and sorrow ; he knew me in the days of my joy and 
gladness. You have known me only since 'the sound 
of the grinding has become low' — 'the grass hopper 



94 INDIANA METHODISM, 

a burden,' and 'the windows darkened ;' he knew me 
in the bright days of prosperity, and in the high 
noon of my manhood. The strange influences, dia- 
bolical or otherwise, that marked out the devious 
path for my erring feet ; the concatenation ofevents 
that has brought me to where I am — these are all 
matters of interest to me personally, but not fit sub- 
jects for contemplation at this time or in this 
place. I read in the holy Book that 'there is for- 
giveness with the Lord that he may be feared ;' and, 
if I have backslidden as basely as did Peter, 1 pray 
God I may be as triumphantly reclaimed. I pause 
to see whether there be any objection to my becom- 
ing an humble probationer in the church." Many 
sobs, and prayers, and tearful eyes witnessed the 
sincere good-will of the congregation, — bade him 
welcome back to the church ; and once more his 
name was recorded among the children of God. 
Doctor Taylor, in 1818, traveled as junior preacher 
on the Limestone circuit, Ohio conference, Henry 
McDaniel, preacher-in-charge, Samuel Parker, pre- 
siding elder ; and thereafter, for nearly twenty years, 
he occupied a position of distinction among the lead- 
ing ministers in Ohio. He was a brother-in-law of 
the Rev. John Sale, of precious memory, their wives 
being sisters, — daughters of Frederick Bonner, one 
of the old Virginia Methodists who early settled in 
Green county, Ohio, and of whom mention has al- 
ready been made. Dr. Taylor lived many years 
after his restoration, an able and useful local preach- 
er. He acquired a competency by the practice of 
his profession ; he lived and died in the confidence 
of his brethern ; dying in the faith, washed in the 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 95 

blood of the Lamb, he has gone to share the bliss 
of the saved in heaven. 

Lewisville, some eight miles west of Dublin, 
though then a small dilapidated village, and not yet 
a city, deserves, for several reasons, a somewhat par- 
ticular notice. The village had been connected, 
the year before, with New Castle circuit, John H. 
Bruce and S. C. Swazee, pastors. It was usual then 
for each preacher-in-charge to make out a plan. of 
his work, at the close of the conference year, for the 
use of his successor. The plan, when properly made 
out, was especially useful to a new pastor, unac- 
quainted with the field. On the plan received by 
the writer for the Lewisville appointment was the 
following entry : "Seventeen names on the class- 
book ; wont go to meeting ; seven years quarrel be- 
tween two leading families ; never do any good ; 
needn't go there at all." This singular note had the ef- 
fect to awaken a curiosity in the mind of the new 
preacher to see what he could do there rather than to 
drop the appointment. His first effort to preach 
there came on Thursday at II o'clock. The congre- 
gation, assembled in an old, rickety, log school- 
house, consisted of seven persons, all women. Hav- 
ing preached and met the class, he announced that 
there would be preaching again at night. During 
the afternoon he visited from house to house in the 
village and immediate vicinity. Thirty-seven turn- 
ed out to the evening service, nine men and boys,, 
and twenty-eight women and girls. The services 
seemed to awaken some interest, which of course 
was encouraging. On returning to fill another ap- 
pointment two weeks later, the preacher was sur- 



96 INDIANA METHODISM, 

prised to find a largely increased attendance. T he 
house was crowded at night, and was comfortably 
filled the next morning at a general class-meeting. 
He preached again on Friday night, when, without 
any previous arrangement or design, a protracted 
meeting was fairly inaugerated. The meeting last- 
ed four weeks, and resulted in one hundred and sev- 
enty conversions and accessions to the church. 

The first man converted was a ringleader in wick- 
edness, — a brother of the Rev. Zelotes Clifford, 
formely of the Indiana conference. Two weeks to a 
day, and just about the same hour of the day in 
which Clifford was converted, his corpse was placed 
on the identical slab bench at which he had knelt in 
penitence, and from which he had risen happy in 
the love of God. The congregation was deeply ef- 
fected at his funeral. 

The work of conviction for sin among the people 
was deep and pungent ; great religious concern rest- 
ed upon the community. The Spirit of prayer was 
given in special manner to the seven faithful wo- 
men that met the preacher at his first appointment. 
Conversions took place at every meeting. Univer- 
salists and unbelievers of every grade were swayed 
by the sweeping tornado of revival power. The ho • 
tel of the village was kept by a Mr. Webster, a boast- 
ing Universalist. His house was the headquarters 
of the somewhat astute George C. McCune, a Uni- 
versalist preacher, the man with whom the Rev. 
Lucien W. Berry held the famous Knightstown de- 
bate. Webster had a large library, mainly of Uni- 
versalist and other infidel books, and was al- 
ways ready to supply his preacher with literature 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 97 

or brandy, or both, as occasion might require. The 
meeting, however, played havock with the infidel 
headquarters. Webster was converted, and receiv- 
ed into the church. Henceforth he had no use for 
brandy, or infidel books or Universalist preachers. 

Another notable case was that of Squire Turner. 
His wife was one of the sacred number seven, already 
mentioned. She had prayed for her drunken and 
besotted husband almost thirty years. Some six 
months after his conversion and reformation he was 
attacked with typhoid fever. On account of his 
prostrated condition the physician prescribed bran- 
dy. The sick man refused to take the prescription. 
As he was evidently fast sinking, he was urged again 
and again to swallow a little brandy. Answering 
the importunity of his friends, he at last said: "If 
you will send for my preacher, and allow me to tell 
him what power there is in one teaspoonful of intox- 
icants to arouse the demon of appetite ; then, if the 
preacher will advise me to do so, I will take the 
brandy." The interview was secured. The dying 
man, amidst tears and prayers, and half surpressed 
shouts of praise, related his experience as a Christ- 
ian, short as it was, in contrast with his thirty years 
of drunken dissipation ; and, after drawing a fearful 
picture of the power of appetite, he closed by saying, 
"Now, Brother Smith, what do you advise me to do?" 
The Preacher answered ; My dear brother, this is 
one of those cases in which I do not feel at liberty 
to advise. The responsibility is more than I can 
think of assuming. The question is one for you alone 
in the fear of God to determine." "Well, then," said 
he, "all of you retire from the room and leave me alone 



y8 INDIANA METHODISM, 

for thirty minutes, or until I knock on the wall as a 
signal for you to return." Alone with God he fought 
the terifflc battle. Which shall pervail — the love of 
life ? or the fear of shame and final death by the fi- 
ery serpent? The conflict was soon terminated. 
In less than ten short minutes the decision was 
reached. "No," said he, ''not a drop will I take." 
Again the physician importuned him : "Your life is 
at stake ; without stimulants you must certainly die, 
and that very soon." The triumphant response was : 
"For me to die is gain. I can live but a few years 
at most, and, by the grace of God, I intend to die a 
sober man. If I die now I know I shall be saved, 
but, if I take your brandy, and get well, with the 
love of strong drink coming back upon me, I shall 
be ruined." This moral hero lived but a few days 
more, but, to the last, he was steadfast in the faith. 
He died happy in the Lord. 

The power of God was no less remarkable in re- 
claiming backsliders than in the conversion of sin- 
ners. The habit of bickering gave place to the spir- 
it of forgiveness and charity. Contention was sup- 
planted by ' brotherly kindness and forbearance. 
Under the mighty power of the gospel stubborn 
hearts yielded, strong wills bowed, and contentious 
spirits, which for seven years had been in fierce 
conflict, were reconciled. Brethren, once enemies, 
embraced each other in Christian affection. The 
grace of God had made them friends. Brother Mes- 
sick said to Brother McMeans : " Oh, I was to 
blame much more than you." McMeans: "No, no, 
it was I, it was I. Oh, how I loathe myself for hav- 
ing treated you so badly. Forgive me, brother, for- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 99 

give me the great wrong I have done you. God 
has forgiven me, and will you not also ?" Messick: 
"I do forgive you ; with all my heart I forgive you. 
And will you not forgive me ? Yes, I feel, I know, 
you do. Henceforth we will be friends and breth- 
ren too." — Sisters Messick and NcMeans, whose 
hearts had likewise been divided, were also made 
one in Christ Jesus. There were several grown up 
children in each of these two families. .The young 
people were more or less involved in the long stand- 
ing strife between their respective parents ; but, 
during the progress of the meeting, the young 
people on both sides were all converted. The devil 
of contention was thus defeated ; not a single ally 
was left to rally under his banner. 

The most remarkable feature of the meeting, 
however, was the conversion of a Disciple preacher 
and some forty or more of his congregation. Elder 
Joseph Paul came out at an early stage of the meet- 
ing, as was his wont, to take notes, to criticise the 
Methodists, and get up a debate. At the close of 
the second service he approached the preacher, and 
said : " If you preach the truth, I don't : if I preach 
the truth, you don't. But if what you have preach- 
ed to-night about the witness of the Spirit, be so, 
and you and your people enjoy that consciousness 
of peace and pardon which you claim, why, there is 
no man more interested in knowing that truth than 
myself " There was an air of sincerity in his speech 
that impressed the bystanders as well as the preach- 
er that possibly the man was in earnest. An- 
nouncement had been made that " Family prayer ' 
would be the subject of discourse the next evening. 



IOO INDIANA METHODISM, 

Perhaps most, if not all, that heard the remarks of 
Mr. Paul, shared with the preacher a feeling of re- 
gret that the subject of the next discourse had been 
announced, the thought uppermost in the minds of 
all being that some other subject might, under the 
circumstances, bs more appropriate. The saying, 
" Man proposes, but God disposes, " had in this 
case a good illustration. The next night, at the 
close of the meeting, Mr. Paul, without stopping to 
say a word, left the house, and went directly to his 
home, some three miles distant. Arriving at home, 
as he afterwards informed the brethren, he found 
his family had retired, and were sound asleep. Be- 
ing in great agony of mind, he woke his wife, in- 
sisting on her getting up so they could have family 
prayer. She suggested that he wait till morning. 
"No," said the trembling Saul, "I have been a 
Christian by profession fifteen years, a preacher 
seven years, and we have never had family prayer 
in our house ; it is time for us to set up the fam- 
ily altar, and I propose that we begin to-night. " 
She reluctantly complied with his request. He 
picked up a Testament, and, where the book hap- 
pened to open, he began reading, at the ninth 
chapter of Acts. " And he, trembling and astonish- 
ed, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" 
His utterance choked ; his eyes filled with tears ; 
he closed the book, and knelt with his wife in their 
first attempt at family prayer. After praying a few 
minutes, Joseph Paul was powerfully converted to 
God, and made to rejoice with joy unspeakable and 
full of glory. By this time his wife was earnestly 
praying, "God be merciful to me a sinner. " He 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. IOI 

then prayed for his wife, his first attempt to pray 
for a mourner in Zion. Like Jacob of old he wres- 
tled with the Lord until the break of day, not for 
himself, but for the mother of his children. Ere 
the new day had fully dawned the light and joy of 
a new life dawned upon her soul. They were now 
prepared to walk in newness of life, to the honor of 
him who had called them to glory and virtue. ' 
A speaking meeting was held the next morning. 
The new converts were both present at the meeting, 
and there told, in their own words, the story of Jesus 
and his love. 

The Rev. Townsend Truslow, a noble old Vir- 
ginian, a man of culture and talent, eccentric with- 
al, but a highly polished Christian gentleman, and 
the Rev. James Reed, young and timid, a clear, log- 
ical, and able minister of the New Testament, both 
local preachers, were then residents of Lewisville. 
They were the Aaron and Hurr of the circuit 
preacher, holding up his hands, and causing Israel 
to prevail. Nor shall mother Truslow be forgotten - 
How much her ardent prayers and amiable Christ- 
ian life contributed to the success of the revival* 
eternity alone may reveal. "George, my son," as 
Mr. Truslow used to call him, was then a mere boy. 
He exhibited in his after life as a man many of 
the noble traits of his distinguished father. George 
W. Truslow was universally esteemed. He was 
worthy. His life was an honor to the church. He 
died a happy, triumphant death, January 23, 1882, 
at Rochester, Indiana. 

The next evening after the speaking meeting 
above-mentioned, at the earnest solicitation of the 



102 INDIANA METHODISM, 

circuit preacher, Brother Paul preached. His text 
was 2 Cor. iii. 18. The sermon was one of great 
power, producing a wonderful effect on the congre- 
gation. Rich in thought, and burning with evan- 
gelical truth, the sermon was in demonstration of 
the Spirit and of power. Conversions multiplied. 
About a week after Mr. Paul's conversion, after he 
had laid the matter fully pefore his people, he and 
his people, with a few others, making seventy-three 
in all, came in a body, and united with the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church. Ever memorable that Sun- 
day afternoon. 

Mr. Paul's former associates, especially the 
preachers, and they were numerous, became much 
exasperated at his course, and soon cited him to 
trial on a charge of heresy. He seemed a little cast 
down at first, in some doubt as to what course he 
should persue, but his friend encouraged him to 
meet the issue, which he did in a most manly way 
The writer declined a request to assist in the de- 
fense, but, being ready to help his friend in any 
prudent way, suggested that the prosecution be al- 
lowed to go on, make their charges and arguments 
against him, and that, when they were all done, he 
should, by way of reply and defense, preach them 
a gospel sermon, using as a text the words of his 
namesake as recorded at the 24th chapter of Acts, 
14th verse. The time set for the trial came. The 
place selected was a beautiful grove, where more 
than a thousand people gathered to witness the per- 
formance. The charges were read, and the de- 
fendant was asked, " Guilty, or not guilt)' ? to 
which his answer was, " Thou sayest. " After the 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 103 

prosecution had exhausted themselves in shameful 
abuse of the good man, he rose, serene as a summer 
morning, and, in tones that showed the sweetness 
of his temper, thus addressed the chairman : " But 
this I confess unto thee, that after the way which 
they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fa- 
thers, believing all things which are written in the 
law and the prophets." Proceeding, he poured forth, 
for more than an hour, a torrent of gospel truth and 
eloquence that was simply irresistable. Even his per- 
secutors wept when he portrayed the power of the 
gospel over his own heart. His triumph was com- 
plete ; his enemies were routed ; and the gospel of 
Christ was glorified in the presence of the multi- 
tude. 

The closing words of the Preacher on this memo- 
rable occasion were — 

The worst wish I have for any of you my former 
brethern, my prosecutors, I will not say persecutors, 
is this — "I would take you in my arms as Jesus' call 
who would bless, convert, and save you all." This 
man of God now "Paul the aged," soon after the 
scene described above removed West with his large 
family and settled in the state ot Iowa "where, so 
far as known, he still lives and is yet a faithful and 
successful local preacher, commanding the respect 
and esteem of all who know him. He has "kept the 
faith," and is looking to the not distant future for 
his reward in Heaven. 



104 INDIANA METHODISM, 

CHAPTER IX. 

PREACHERS ON HORSEBACK. — CRAWFORDSVTLLE. 

The Conference met in the fall of 1843, at Craw- 
fordsvllle, Bishop James O. Andrew, presiding. 
The preachers in the eastern part of the State, fall- 
ing in with each other on their way to the confer- 
ence, formed, by the time they reached Indianapo- 
lis, a company of thirty itinerant horsemen. The 
Rev. John Leach was one of the mumber. Leach a 
tailor by trade, was noted for neatness of dress. On 
this occasion he wore a regulation suit of broad- 
cloth and a shining beaver. His nag was a pacing, 
sorrel pony. The pony, for some cause, had been 
deprived of his natural means of defense against 
the flies by a total loss of the covering that once 
ornamented his caudal appendage. The company 
left Indianapolis in the morning. Late in the after- 
noon they passed Jamestown. Soon afterwards they 
encountered a stretch of corduroy almost surmerg- 
ed or half-afloat in black mud. When about mid- 
way of the swamp, "Norway," as the sorrel pony 
was called, getting his feet entangled among the 
rails or brush in the yielding road-bed, gave a lurch 
to one side, followed by a grand tumble, which threw 
horse and rider sprawling into the black sea of frit- 
ter-batter mud. Even a smile among the spectators 
would have been cruel while the grave parson was 
standing "first to his ankles and then to his knees" 
in the "dark waters," combing the mud from his 
hair with his fingers, lifting it from his bosom, or 
emptying it from his beaver. When he was re-instat- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 105 

ed in the saddle, with "Norway" again on the war 
path, it is needless to say whether the preachers were 
moved to immoderate laughter. Night dropped 
her sable curtain over the company before they 
reached Crawfordsville, kindly hiding from the 
gaze of the curious the bespattered condition of the 
unfortunate brother. He was in the conference 
room the next morning, however, as neat and tidy 
as if nothing had happened. 

The personnel of the conference was especially 
striking. John C. Smith, then at the zenith of his 
popularity as a puipit orator, was the polite and 
gentlemanly presiding elder of the Crawfordsville 
district. Samuel Brenton, a rapidly rising man, 
was recognized as an eloquent preacher. Sometime 
afterwards he represented a district in congress. 
Mathew Simpson, then president of the Indiana 
Asbury University, was yet but little known in the 
West. His wonderful career as educator, editor, 
and bishop had just begun. As a gospel preacher 
he was without a peer on the Lord's footstool. 
Edward R. Ames, afterwards the great bishop, was 
the Western corresponding secretary of the Mis- 
sionary society. He was a man of great wisdom and 
far-reaching influence. He was the best presiding 
officer in America ; the ablest church-statesman in 
the world. The Rev. Charles Elliott, D. D., on 
whose recommendation mainly Simpson was elected 
to the presidency of the University, was the honor- 
ed guest of the conference. He represented the 
Western Christian Advocate, of which he was the 
learned, able, and spicy editor. 

Bishop Andrew proved an efficient presiding of- 



106 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ficer. He was prompt, ready, parliamentary. His 
orderly methods greatly facilitated the dispatch 
of business. He was affable and courteous in his 
intercourse with preachers and p^Dple, and easily 
won their esteem. His preaching on the Sabbath 
moved many to tears and to higher resolves in the 
Christian life. The sermon is yet gratefully remem- 
bered by some of the older members of the church 
at Crawfordsville and by the preachers then present 
that yet remain. His text was Luke xxiv. 32. — 
"And they said one to another, Did not our heart 
burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, 
and while he opened to us the scriptures?" His 
theme was, "Communion with Christ." The sermon 
was sublimely simple and correspondingly effective. 

On Monday morning the bishop reported the or- 
dinations that took place on Sunday, as follows : 
Deacons, — Charles Mapes, Alfred Nesbit, James 
Corwin, Jacob Bruner, S. C. Swazee, Milton Mahin, 
H. N. Barnes, O. V. Lemon, E. S. Blue, J. C. 
Medsker, Jacob Whiteman, D. S. Elder, I. M. Stagg, 
and N. S. Worden ; Elders— J. L. Smith, P. R. 
Guthrie, J. W. Bradshaw, Edward Oldham, J. R. 
Williams, J. V. R. Miller, R. C. Rowley, Stephen 
Ravenscroft, J. S. Donaldson, Enoch Holdstock, 
William Wilson, Landy Havens, G. W. Ames, Dra- 
per Chipman, Lealdes Forbes, Wesley Dorsey, 
Samuel Reed, W. F. Wheeler, W. L. Huffman, 
George Havens, Eventus Doud, John Talbott, and 
William Campbell. Very few of the twenty-three 
elders then ordained remain on the effective list. 

The slavery question had been much agitated 
throughout the country. Among the preachers of 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 10/ 

the conference, though it was but little apparent on 
the surface, there was a deep under-current of anti- 
slavery sentiment. Several questions were present 
to the minds of the preachers when it came to the 
selection of delegates to the ensuing General con- 
ference of 1844; as, the slavery question, the pro- 
posed division of the Indiana conference, and wheth- 
er, if the conference should be divided, the leading 
members would choose this or that side of the divid- 
ing line. These were the leading questions. There 
were others of minor importance. Among the many 
men of experience and ability in the conference, 
worthy and well qualified to represent their breth- 
ern in the General conference, some of course had 
to be elected to stay at home. Which to prefer as 
delegates was somewhat perplexing to the younger 
members of the body. 

The burden of the hour Monday afternoon ivas 
how to make an equitable division of the conference. 
The debate was warm and earnest. Some of the 
General conference aspirants, whose minds, it was 
believed, were already made up as to their future 
conference relations, provided the division should 
take place, were especially careful to conceal their 
preferences. Calvin W. Ruter made a long speech 
in which he took great pains to eulogize the north, 
and then dilated in glowing terms on the advan- 
tages of the south, referring to northern and south- 
ern Indiana. He labored to show the great impor- 
tance of having the division "just right," but failed 
to define a boundary, or express his judgment as to 
the issue in debate. This luminous (?) speech was 
answered by John C. Smith. "Mr. President," he 



I08 IDNIANA METHODISM, 

said, "I move the brother be now requested to in- 
form the conference which side of the question he 
is on." This unexpected sally brought down the 
house. As but few cared to define their position 
very closely, the debate here ended. The bound- 
aries finally agreed upon were as follows : "The In- 
diana conference shall include that part of the State 
south ofthe National road, with Elizabethtown in 
Ohio, and the Western charge [now Meridian Street] 
in Indianapolis, with all the towns immediately on 
the road [west of Indianapolis] to the State line, 
except Terre Haute. The North Indiana confer- 
ence shall include that part of the State north of 
the National road, the Eastern charge [Now Rob- 
erts Park] in Indianapolis, # with all the towns im- 
mediately on the road[from Indianapolis] to the east 
line ofthe State, together with Terre Haute in the 
west." 

The following resolution was then adopted : 
""Should the conference not be divided by the Gen- 
eral conference, we will hold our next session at 
Indianapolis ; if divided, the southern portion will 
meet at Bloomington, and the northern portion at 
Ft. Wayne." The Conference next proceeded to 
the election of delegates to the ninth Delegated 
General Conference, to meet in New York City, 
May i, 1844. The Indiana conference was entitled 
to eight delegates, and the following brethern were 
elected in the order here given : Mathew Simpson, 
Allen Wiley, E. R. Ames, John Miller, Calvin W. 
Ruter, Aaron Wood, Augustus Eddy, and James 
Havens. 

The year had been one of great religious pros- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 109 

perity. A revival tide had swept over all sections 
of the country. Many losses by death had also oc- 
curred. One of the notable ministers of the church, 
Robert R. Roberts, senior bishop, had died March 
26, 1843. Indiana preachers mourned the death of 
Bishop Roberts as children mourning the loss of a 
father. Roberts was a general superintendent in 
the best sense of the term. His home was in In- 
diana, and by Indiana preachers and people he was 
greatly admired, honored and loved. 

The conference closed on Tuesday afternoon. 
Brother Burns was no longer presiding elder. He 
had taken a superannuated relation. Centerville, 
instead of Winchester, now gave name to the dis- 
trict over which Burns had presided, and Joseph Tar- 
kington had been announced as the presiding elder. 
The other appointments for the districts were : Cen- 
tervdle, J. H. Bruce ; Richmond, J. H. Hull ; Win- 
chester, L. M. Reeves and Arthur Badley ; Hagers- 
town, J W. Bradshaw ; Ala-ncyto.v.i, Z S. Clifford ; 
Granville, John Leach ; Hartford, H. H. Badley ; 
Portland, A. Carey; Williamsburg, B. Webster; 
Cambridge and Dublin, J. L. Smith, second year. 
The bishop had detached Lewisville and New Lis- 
bon from Cambridge and Dublin ; so J. L. Smith's 
charge now consisted for 1843-44, of the two villages, 
Cambridge and Dublin, with the privilege of culti- 
vating any new ground in the vicinity. The new 
presiding elder, though a very different man from 
his predecessor, proved to be the right man in the 
right place. He soon won a high position in the es- 
teem and affection of preachers and people by his 
zeal for the cause, his uniform kindness, and his ef- 



110 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ikiency both in and out of the pulpit. Take him 
all in all, Joseph Tarkington, was one of the best 
presiding elders in the conference. He was a good 
man, a genial companion a sound preacher. He 
had the art, moreover, of controling men. Nature 
fitted him to exercise great moral power over men 
whether in or out of the church. He was a noble 
man. The Pastor of the Cambridge and Dublin 
charge, soon after conference, doing as he was ad- 
vised, moved to Cambridge City, having lived the 
previous year in Dublin. The society in Cambridge, 
though few in number and by no means rich in 
purse, resolved to build a church. The undertak- 
ing, under the circumstances, seemed hurculean ; 
but, believing that whatever ought to be done, 
• could be done, pastor and people went to work with 
a will. Their efforts were heartily seconded by 
such men as Rariden, Meredith, Ira and Sanford 
Lacky, Conwell, Conkling and others. These men, 
though not members of the church, were in full sym- 
pathy with the little society struggling to build a 
house for the Lord. The preacher borrowed a wagon 
and one horse from Wm. Conwell, senior, and by ad- 
ding his own riding horse, he made up a team, with 
which he hauled the lumber, brick and other mate- 
rial for the building. The preacher also kiln-dried 
the lumber and superintended the work of construc- 
tion. The better class of people encouraged the 
enterprise, but there were some people in the com- 
munity whose sympathies did not run in that way. 
Those "some people" tried to hinder the work in 
various ways — sometimes telling the workmen they 
would never get their pay — urging people not to sub- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. I I I 

scribe to the building fund, and persuading sub- 
scribers to repudiate their subscriptions. One of 
the men employed on the building was a Polish 
nobleman, who had been exiled for political 
causes, his work was to wait on the masons 
with brick and mortar. One day while the 
preacher was gone for a load of sand, a busybody 
in other men's matters, coaxed away the Polander. 
When the clerical teamster returned, he found the 
brick-layers sitting serenely, waiting for "mort" ; the 
preacher thereupon seized the hod, and for seven 
August days, the mercury averaging about ninety 
in the shade, carried that ancient and useful imple- 
ment, the hod, until the walls were up, and the last 
brick brought on with rejoicings. The church 
though not finished, was supplied with temporary 
seats, and used at the last quarterly meeting. The 
completion of the building had to be deferred for 
the want of means. At the close of the year it 
could be truly said that the Lord had greatly blessed 
and prospered the church both at Cambridge and 
Dublin. A new society had also been organized in 
the course of the year at Germantown. 

The Universalists were numerous and influential 
at Dublin, with John Whippo at their head; at Cam- 
bridge City the Disciples were the numerous pa r ty, 
their leader being the scholarly Rev. Dr. Hoshour, 
who has already been mentioned. On one occasion 
at Dublin the writer preached on Matthew xxv. 46, 
— "And these shall go away into everlasting punish- 
ment;" and, at the close of the service, he said:"The 
demise of Universalism having taken place in this 
village at a quarter before 1 2 o'clock this day, a funeral 



112 INDIANA METHODISM, 

discourse will be delivered, D. V., and a faithful 
sketch of the life and character of the distinguished 
personage given, in this church two weeks from this 
evening." It is safe to suppose that Mr. McCune.of 
Knightstown, was informed by the next day's mail, 
of what had taken place, and notified to be present 
at the funeral, to defend the faith. The excitement 
ran high ; and, at the time appointed, the great Uni- 
versalist preacher and his followers were out in full 
force. The house was crowded almost to suffoca- 
tion. The service was opened by the reading of a 
part of the [8th chapter of Ezekiel, beginning with, 
"The soul that sinneth,it shall die," and going on to 
the end of the chapter. One of Charles Wesley's 
best hymns, number 790 ''Methodist Hymnal," was 
then announced. Mr. McCune,by the way.had taken 
his seat near to, and in front of, the pulpit, where 
with hat upturned, and with paper and pencil in hand, 
he was ready to take notes of the discourse. The 
preacher read the hymn with the best emphasis or 
expression he could give it, pointing directly at Mc- 
Cune at each pronouncement of the term "wolf" or 
other word referring to his wolfship. 

Jesus, great Shepherd of the sheep, 

To thee for help we My ; 
Thy little flock in safety keep, 

For O, the wolf \sn\gh ! 
He comes, of hellish malice full. 

To scatter, tear, and slay ; 
He siezes every straggling soul 

As his own lawful prey. 

With the reading of the fourth stanza a murmur of 
excitement or discontent became distinctly audible. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 113 

We laugh to scorn his cruel power 

While by our shepherd's side ; 
The sheep he never can devour, 

Unless he first divide. 

The fifth stanza was the feather that broke the 
camel's back. 

O do not suffer him to part 

The souls that here agree : 
But make us of one mind and heart, 

And keep us one in thee. 

Just as the preacher finished the line, "O do not 
suffer him to part" old "Father" Custer, an octo- 
genarian Universalist, sprang from his seat, and, 
violently swinginghis hat, exclaimed in a loud voice, 
"I wont stay to hear such stuff any longer. I've 
read the Methodist hymn-book through again and 
again, and there's no such hymn in it as that. The 
man is making the hymn as he goes, every word of 
it." As the venerable man excitedly left the house 
the preacher quoted Proverbs xxviii,i "The wicked 
flee when no man pursueth." Order being restored, 
the Methodists and members of other evangelical 
churches in the audience, united in singing the hymn 
with much spirit, after which all were invited to join 
in solemn prayer. The discourse delivered, the 
benediction was pronounced ; and thenceforth all 
trouble with the contentious Universalists of Doub- 
lin was at an end. The membership was increased 
by nearly one hundred at Dublin during the year ; 
the class at Cambdidge City was more than doub- 
led in numbers. 

The general conference of May, 1884, having di- 
vided the Indiana conference according to the plan 



114 INDIANA METHODISM, 

adopted at Crawfordsville, the North Indiana con- 
ference met at Ft. Wayne the next fall. A voyage 
of more than a hundred miles on horseback was re- 
quired, to reach the seat of the conference from 
Wayne , County. The pastor of Cambridge and 
Dublin must needs plough through the wet lands of 
Randolph, brave the quicksands of Jay, risk his neck 
in the loblolly of Wells, sniff the fetid odors of the 
black swamps of the St. Mary, and cross, without 
bridge or boat, the White, Mississinewa and Wa- 
bash rivers, to reach the ancient fortification named 
in honor of General Anthony Wayne. Allen Wiley, 
Joseph Tarkington, J. H. Bruce, and J. L. Snrth 
formed themselves into a squad of four, "to walk or 
ride the dangerous road." They had a time of it in 
getting through, but at length they arrived safe and 
sound at their destination on Tuesday evening, Oct- 
ober 15, (1844.) 



CHAPTER X. 

FT. WAYNE. — NORTH IND. CONFERENCE ORGANIZED. 

The first session on the North Indiana Confer- 
ence was held at Ft. Wayne, beginning Wednesday 
morning, October 16, 1844. Bishop Beverly Waugh 
presided. The session was a very harmonious one. 
The venerable Bishop Waugh endeared himself to 
the hearts of all. 

Thanks to the management of the smooth-faced, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 1 5. 

popular presiding elder, G. M. Boyd, and the saga- 
cious, gentlemanly pastor, H. B. Beers, ample ar- 
rangements had been made for the entertainment of 
the conference, including the faithful horses that 
carried the preachers to Ft. Wayne ; for, in the lan- 
guage of ancient hospitality, "there was straw and 
provender enough, and room to lodge in," not to 
mention the many kind attentions the ministers re- 
ceived. The Cambridge and Dublin pastor found 
the best of quarters at the pleasant home of Major 
Edsell, in company with Pastor John S. Bayless,. 
who had just closed his second year at the Eastern 
charge, Indianapolis. 

The conference organized with eight presiding 
elders, eighty pastors, and nine assistant pastors ; 
two agents for the Indiana Asbury University, and 
two University professors ; and with four on the su- 
perannuate list, — making in all a conference of one 
hundred and five members. Mathew Simpson,. 
Jacob Myres, B. T. Griffith, Zelotes S. Clifford, and 
F. F. Sheldon were at the close of the session,trans- 
ferred to the Indiana conference. The eight presid- 
ing elders were : G. M. Beswick, J. C. Smith, Aaron 
Wood, B. Westlake, C. M. Holliday, G. M. Boyd, 
Joseph Tarkington, and Joseph Marsee. These 
noble men were the heroic leaders of the itinerant 
host which had now taken possession of Ft. Wayne. 

The following brethern had the honor of consti- 
tuting the first class received on trial by the North 
Indiana conference, and at the first annual session ; 
namely, James Johnson, L. B. Eaton, Hezekiah 
Smith, Abraham Koontz, James Burns, L. M. Han- 
cock, Martin S. Morrison, J. C. Ferris, Daniel Crum- 



Il6 INDIANA METHODISM, 

packer, Jeremiah Early, J. C. Robbins, and James 
Sparrh. 

The church membership of the new conference, 
estimated by districts, was : LaFayette, 3312 ; Peru, 
3010 ; South Bend, 2025 ; Fort Wayne, 2639; Cen- 
terville, 4173 ; Indianapolis, 4389. The aggregate 
membership, including probationers, as it thus ap- 
pears, was 27563 ; an average of 344 members to 
each preacher-in charge ; or, an average of 287 
members to each effective preacher, including pre- 
siding elders and assistant preachers. 

The presiding officer, Bishop Waugh, was in full 
sympathy with the preachers. He wept with them 
at the recital of their sorrows, and rejoiced with 
them in their triumphs. Like toils and hardships 
he had himself experienced. Many of them had 
received but a modicum of the meager allowances 
made for their support. Though coursely clad, and 
much of the time shaking with the ague, they had 
traveled their large, muddy circuits, halting not for 
rain or storm, abundant in labors, toils, and priva- 
tions, yet, nothing daunted, they were come to re- 
ceive their appointments for another year, prizing 
it above all things that they were accounted worthy 
to suffer, if need be, for the Master's cause. 

The time has probably come, by the way, for the 
church to enter a solemn protest against the selec- 
tion of general superintendents on the ground of 
mere literary or scholastic attainments. An episco- 
pos ought of course be a man of respectable learn- 
ing, but, in. addition to all other qualifications, in- 
cluding persona] piety and common sense, he ought 
to be a man of experience in the pastorate, acquaint- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 117 

ed with rural circuits and districts, and not incapa- 
ble of a fellow-feeling with the rank and file of 
traveling preachers. The notoriety easily attained 
in numerous prominent positions due to the growth 
in the church — may the day never come when such 
notoriety may be sought as a means of gaining epis- 
copal honors ! Thus far the church has been ex- 
ceedingly fortunate in the choice of men for the epis- 
copal office ; yet, the fact cannot be concealed, that, 
in a very few instances, literary distinction was per- 
mitted to influence the episcopal election fully as 
much as sound church-statesmanship could by any 
means justify. 

The address of Bishop Waugh, introductory to 
the reading of the appointments, was kind, paternal, 
appropriate, inspiring. A more timely, touching, 
effective address has rarely, if ever, been given on 
such an occasion. 

The bishop had called Allen Wiley into the cab- 
inet, to assist in making the appointments. Wiley, 
by virtue of his ministerial office and experience, 
was a scriptural episcopos. He had traveled the 
Madison district when said district included Ft. 
Wayne. He knew the country from the Ohio river 
to the lakes ; he also knew the men of the confer- 
ence as no bishop could know them. Taken as a 
whole the appointments, it is believed, could hardly 
have been more judiciously or satisfactorily adjust- 
ed. 

The following, which is a full list of the appoint- 
ments, indicates the working force of the new con- 
ference : — 

1. Greencastle District, George M. Beswick, 



Il8 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Presiding Elder ; Greencastle, Amasa Johnson ; 
Greencastle Circuit, D. D. Demotte ; Bruners- 
town, J. C. Ferris ; Terre Haute, Samuel T. Gillette; 
Roseville Wm. H. Smith ; Newport, J. B. Birt, L. B. 
Eaton ; Rockville, Jacob Colclazer, Rockville cir- 
cuit, Jared B. Mershon ; Russellville, Wm. Wilson, 
M. S. Morrison ; North Salem, James Johnson ; 
Indiana Asbury University; Wm. C. Larabee, B. F. 
Teft ; Professors ; Aaron Wood, Agent. 

2. Crawfordsville District, John Daniel, Presid- 
ing Elder ; Crawfordsville, Walter L. Huffman ; 
Crawfordsville Circuit, Wade Posey ; Alamo, J. J. 
Cooper; Perrysville, Draper Chipman ; Williams- 
port, Joseph White ; Covington, H. N. Barnes ; 
Newtown, Richard Hargrave ; Dayton, Thomas 
Bartlett ; Thorntuwn, George W. Stafford ; Leba- 
non, Abraham Koontz. 

3. LaFayette District, S. C. Cooper, Presiding 
Elder; LaFayette, Samuel Brenton ; Independence, 
J. M. Stallard, R. C. Rowley ; Monticello, A. D. 
Beasley, G. W. Warner ; Rensselaer, N. N. Wordon ; 
Pittsburg, Brinton Webster ; Logansport, Zachariah 
Games ; Kokomo, James Burns ; Delphi, Allen Skill- 
man ; Rossville, John Edwards ; Frankfort, Enoch 
Wood. 

4. Peru District, Burroughs Westlake, Presiding 
Elder; Peru, Hawley B. Beers; Wabash, Orville P. 
Boyden ; Marion, Ancil Beach ; Bluffcon, James 
Sparrh ; Liberty Mills, Warren Griffith ; Warsaw, 
Nelson Green; Leesburg, George Guild ; Plymouth, 
Arthur Badly ; Rochester, Jesse Sparks ; Winamac, 
Franklin Taylor. 

5. South Bend District, G. M. Holladay, Presid- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. U9 

ing elder ; South Bend, John H. Bruce ; White Hall, 
Daniel Crumpacker ; Mishawaka, Orange V. Lemon ; 
Middlebury, Eventus Doud ; Terre Coupee, J. C. 
Medsker ; Michigan City, J. \V. Parrett ; Crown 
Point, Jeremiah Early ; Valparaiso, Jacob Cozad ; 
Union, Samuel Lamb ; LaPorte, John B. DeMotte. 

6. Fort Wayne District, G. M. Boyd, Presiding 
Elder ; Ft. Wayne, John S. Bayless ; St. Joseph, 
Benjamin Winans ; Decatur, Elijah Lilliston ; Au- 
burn, Enoch Holdstock ; Steuben, Charles W. Mil- 
ler ; L ; mi, John P. Jones; La Grange, Elijah S. 
Blue ; Goshen, Lanson W. Monson ; Wolf Lake, 
W. J. Forbes, J. B. Johnson ; Huntington, William 
G. Stonix. 

7. Centerville District, Joseph Tarkington, Pre- 
siding Elder ; Richmond, Wm. F. Wheeler ; Cen- 
terville, Philip May; Cambridge and Dublin, J. H. 
Hull ; Hagerstown, Luther Taylor ; Williamsburg, 
Robert Burns(superan.), T. H. Sinex ; Winchester, 
J. W. Bradshaw, J. C. Robbins ; Muncytown, I. M. 
Stagg ; Hartford, F. M. Richmond ; Granville, G. 
W. Bowers ; Portland, Abraham Carey . 

8. Indianapolis District, J. Marsee, Presiding El- 
der ; Indianapolis East, J. L. Smith ; Augusta, R. 
H. Calvert ; Danville, Daniel F. Stright ; Cicero, 
John R. Tansey ; Noblesville, H. H. Badley ; An- 
dersontown, John Leach, L. M. Hancock ; Pendle- 
ton, James Scott, Michael Johnson ; New Castle, 
Bardin H. Bradbury ; Knightstown, Hezekiah 
Smith; Greenfield, John S. Donaldson; Indiana 
Asbury University. John C. Smith, Agent: 

Presiding-elder Tarkington became, in the course 
of the session, very much concerned about the un- 



120 INDIANA METHODISM, 

finished church at Cambridge City, especially as a 
new pastor had to be appointed to the Cambridge 
and Dublin charge. The retiring pastor had been 
there two years, a full term, and could not be re- 
turned. "What shall I do?" inquired the presiding 
elder. The answer of the retiring pastor was, "Send 
J. H. Hull there ; he is just the man for the place ; 
you can depend on him to finish the house." Broth- 
er Hull was appointed. He had been only one year 
at Richmond. He was well received by the people, 
and expected to return, but — those were not the 
days for Methodist preachers to think of ease or per- 
sonal emolument. The question then was, "Where 
ought I to go ?" or "Where can I probably accom- 
plish the most good ?" 

The first move Brother Hull made after arriving 
at his new field, was to sell his horse, and apply the 
proceeds towards finishing the house. The people, 
inspired by his zeal, came to the rescue of the enter- 
prise. Early next spring, by invitation of the preach- 
er and the trustees, President Simpson and the pas- 
tor of the Eastern charge, Indianapolis, attended 
the dedication of the new church at Cambridge City. 
The debt to be provided for at the dedication 
amounted to $640. After the morning sermon $340 
was raised ; and the balance, $300, was raised in the 
evening. The leading contributors were : Hon. 
James Rariden, Gen. Sol Meredith, Ira and Sanford 
Lacky, John Hosea, Wm. Conwell, John L. Starr, 
sen., Dr. Wheelan, Dr. Johnson, Jacob Waltz, Thom- 
as Tyner, Wm. Elliott, and Pleasant Johnson. The 
preaching of Dr. Simpson measured up to the stan- 
dard of his best effort. During the morning ser- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 121 

vice Dr. Hoshour occupied a front seat, and was 
thoroughly absorbed in the sermon. He listened 
with great interest from the beginning, but as the 
discourse advanced the minister becoming more an- 
imated, the German scholar and former Lutheran 
preacher came very near losing the power of self- 
control. The minister had occasion to speak of the 
Reformation. While dwelling in his eloquent way 
on Luther's noble stand at the Diet of Worms, Dr. 
Hoshour fairly breaking down, wept freely. 

The new appointee to the Eastern charge, Indian- 
apolis, arrived at his post of duty on a certain Thurs- 
day in time for the regular week-night-prayer-meet- 
ing, — the day on which arrived the first authentic 
news in regard to the presidential election. 

The political campaign had been a very exciting 
one,— the Whigs huzzaing for Henry Clay, of Ken- 
tucky ; the Democrats, for James K. Polk, of Tenne- 
see. Late in the afternoon of that well-remember- 
ed Thursday, the mail-coach arrived, bearing the- 
news so long and anxiously awaited. Some idea 
of the condition of the National road may be inferred . 
from this, that the aforesaid mail-coach came in 
minus coach, minus rear wheels, minus everything 
except the two front wheels and indispensible rig- 
ging, to which was attached a kind of pannier. On 
the mail-bags, which were piled in the bottom of the 
pannier, were seated the driver and one passenger. 
This lone passenger made it his business to herald 
the news of Mr. Polk's election to the anxious crowds 
at the hotels, cake-shops, and cabins, all the way 
from Richmond to Indianapolis. On crossing Pouge's 
run, or at Lytle's tavern, an old frame building on 



122 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Washington street, near the eastern limits of the 
city, the herald began to vociferate the news ; thence 
to the post-office, he made the welkin ring with 
"Polk's elected !" 

A number of the leading men of the charge were 
present at the prayer-meeting, which met at Broth- 
er Goldsberry's. The new preacher was a stranger 
to all of them, but before the meeting closed, he re- 
garded himself pretty well informed as to their 
politics. The Democratic jollification began on the 
streets while the meeting was in progress. The 
preacher noticed that; at each boom of the cannon 
or burst of loud huzzas from the excited multitudes 
that thronged the streets, Brothers Phipps, Wilkins, 
Goldsberry, and others sighed as if in great sorrow; 
while, at the same time, the effect seemed to be of 
an entirely different character in the case of Broth- 
ers Beck, Tutewiler, Brouse.and others. The boom- 
ing cannon only increased their animation. 

The new preacher found his congregation with- 
out a house of worship. Robert's chapel had been 
commenced the year before, in the pastorate of the 
Rev. John S. Bayless ; but the walls were raised on- 
ly one story, when work on the building was sus- 
pended for the want of funds. The court-house, 
however, had been secured as a preaching place, 
and was so occupied till sometime in the summer 
of 1845, when the basement of the church was so far 
finished that it could be used for public services and 
Sunday-school purposes. 

The winter of 1844-45 was a season of refreshing 
to the churches of Indianapolis. A revival spirit 
seemed to prevade the city. Many souls were 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 23 

awakened and converted. 

The pastor of the Western charge at this time was 
Wm. W. Hibben, — Lucian W. Berry, presiding elder. 
The two Presbyterian churches had for their pastors 
— the Old school, Phinneas Curley ; the New school, 
H. W. Beecher. 

Mr. Gurley was a man of deep piety, a learned 
and dignified gentleman, an able and thoroughly 
evangelical minister. He had honest convictions, 
and was outspoken in defense of his creed. He was 
true to the inspirations of the gospel, kindly and char- 
atable, and catholic in spirit. Both as a man and as 
a minister he was highly esteemed, not only among 
his own people, but by the community in general. 

Mr. Beecher was fluent and flippant, ready at any 
time to make a speech on any subject, always as 
trifling or as sober as the occasion required. Any- 
thing to gain notoriety, seemed to be the motto of 
his life. "Mankind", said the Rev. John S. Bayless, 
"includes three distinct classes, — the righteous, the 
wicked and the Beecher family." Beecher was a 
man of great genius and versatility of talent. This 
everybody readily admitted ; but, that he was a gos- 
pel preacher, or had any well defined theological 
views or fixed principles either in ethics or religion, 
those competent to judge, who knew him best, did 
not pretend to claim. Artful and cunning, he had 
a way of wining people to his church that was pecu- 
liar. 

The following illustrations of Mr. Beecher's pecu- 
liar methods were given to the writer by Rev. Mr. 
Gurley. Many, as already stated, were awakened in 
the course of the winter, and led to inquire, "What 



124 INDIANA METHODISM, 

shall we do ? Among the number was a certain 
merchant, a man of wealth and high social position. 
He had been raised a Calvinist, and it was supposed 
he would join Mr. Gurley's church. The man's busi- 
ness partner, who was a member of Mr. Beecher's con- 
gregation, arranged for an interview between the pen- 
itant brother and Mr. Beecher. The penitent, ad- 
dressing Mr. Beecher, said : "I should like well 
enough to be a member of your church, but there is 
one insuperable difficulty in the way." "Why, what is- 
the difficulty you refer to ?" inquired Mr. Beecher. 
"Why, sir," responded the penitent, "I was raised 
among the Scotch Covenanters, and, as you might ex- 
pect, I am a firm believer in the doctrine of fore-ordina- 
tion ; but, as I understand it, you New-school people 
have split off from the old school Presbyterians on this 
very doctrine. I do not see therefore how I can 
consistantly join your church." Mr. Beecher, pro- 
ducing a copy of the Westminster Confession, an- 
swered : "Here sir, is what we believe ; why, sir, 
we have never changed this grand old creed one 
jot or title ; we hold the creed in its unadulterated 
form, just as it came from the fathers." The peni- 
tent's scruples were thus overcome, and he was soon 
received into the church. Another penitent now 
appears on the scene. Mr. Beecher has an inter- 
view with him also. Mr. Beecher : "The thing for 
you to do is to join my church." Penitent : "I should 
like very much to be a member of your church, but,. 
— there is an insuperable barrier in the way. I was 
raised a Methodist, and I can never join a church 
that holds the God-dishonoring doctrines of the 
Westminister Confession." "My dear sir," respond- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 12$ 

ed Mr. Beecher, " you seem to have forgotten that 
it was on account of these objectional doctrines, de- 
crees, fore-ordination, partial atonement, etc., that 
Ave split off from the Old-school church. Why, my 
brother, we believe in, and preach, free grace, just 
as the Methodists. The Methodists, to mention an- 
other important matter, have what they call class- 
meeting. We have about the same thing in our 
church. The conference meeting with us is really 
the same thing as the class-meeting among the 
Methodists." A little time for reflection, and an 
opportunity for the "manipulating committee" to 
second Mr. Beecher's efforts, and the man is receiv- 
ed into Mr. Beecher's church. 

Mr. Beecher was the recognized embodiment of 
"liberal Christianity," Indianapolis brand, which, in 
spite of its emasculated theology and laxity of mor- 
al discipline, was rendered attractive to many by 
the brilliancy of his genius. 

The Eastern charge had a protracted revival 
meeting at the court-house, their usual place of 
worship. The first week or ten days the meeting 
did not seem very promising and many were be- 
coming discouraged. On a certain Monday evening, 
at the close of a prayer-meeting, the pastor, in his 
exhortation, said : "Thus far we have seen but little 
fruit of our toil : but I am willing to hold the meet- 
ing ten days longer, if I can be assured that there 
are three persons in the house that will stand by me, 
and labor for a revival." Brother Foudray, though 
a very modest man, instantly sprang to his feet, and 
clapping his hands, cried out, "Go on Brother Smith, 
I'll stick to you while there is a button on my coat !" 



126 INDIANA METHODISM, 

The Hon. John McLain, U. S. District judge, then 
holding court in Indianapolis, was present at the 
meeting. He was visibly effected by Brother Foud- 
ray's earnestness and zeal, and, at the close of the 
meeting, came to the pastor, and said, "Go on, 
brother ; you have nothing to fear. I have no doubt 
the Lord will give you the victory ; with such men 
as Brother Foudray to hold up your hands, you can- 
not fail." The people left the house, greatly en- 
couraged. The next evening the work began 
in earnest, and for seven weeks the meeting con- 
tinued with unbating interest. 

Occasionally the brethren indulged in remarks 
often heard in times of revival, remarks born of zeal, 
not intentionally wrong, but thoughtless, such as — 
"Now, if we could only see such men as Judge Wick, 
Col. Henderson, and Judge Blackford converted, 
and brought into the church, how glad we should 
be !" How often men forget the meek and lowly 
Savior's caution. — "Mind not high things, but con- 
descend to men of low estate." The writer's obser- 
vation these many years has fully satisfied him that 
in all genuine revivals history repeats itself, — in re- 
vivals as in other matters. Accepting the popular 
notion of two classes in society, the high and the 
low, or the rich and the p)or, it may be confidently 
affirmed that revivals, with scarcely an exception, 
always begin among the so-called poorer classes. 
So it was at the beginning. Tax-gatherers, fisher- 
men, and those generally that belonged in the ranks 
of the poor, were the people that gathered about 
the lamb-like Son of God. To the anxious disciples 
of John the Baptist, who inquired, "Art thou he 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. \2J 

that should come, or do we look for another ?" the 
Savior answered, "Go your way, and tell John what 
things ye have seen and heard ; how that the blind 
see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf 
hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is 
preached. Every-where the great mass of society 
consists of the very classes to which the gospel was 
preached by the Master. And while the higher 
classes were saying, "This man receiveth sinners, 
and eateth with them," the common people heard 
him gladly. The work begins at the foundation of 
the social fabric, not among the rich and great, but 
among the common people. The first convert at the 
court-house meeting was a hod-carrier. His wife 
took care of the baby while he sought and obtained 
pardon ; the next night she was converted while 
John held the baby. The immediate fruits of the 
meeting were 250 accessions and 258 conversions. 
Many of the converts were men and women of high 
social position and large influence. Some of them 
yet live to honor God and bless the church, but 
many have fallen asleep in Christ — have gone to 
the world of bright spirits above. 

The congregation moved from the old court-house 
into the basement of Roberts chapel, on the corner 
of Pennsylvania and Market streets, in the summer 
of 1845, and remained there a little more than a 
year, until the main audience room was finished, in 
1846. Several circumstances connected with the 
completing of the church, the best church-edifice 
then in Indianapolis, ought perhaps to be mention- 
ed. The facts may be of interest to some of the de- 
scendants of the o-ood men and women, who, for the 



128 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Master's sake, toiled and sacrificed in behalf of the 
enterprise. 

Three thousand dollars were required to finish 
the building' but where was the money to come 
from ? especially as the people generally felt that 
they had already contributed to about the utmost 
limits of their ability. The pastor was exceedingly 
anxious to have the building completed before the 
expiration of his term, two years, as pastor. Several 
official meetings were held, to devise ways and 
means to raise the needed funds, but all seemed 
unavailing. John Foudray was a man of prayer and 
wonderful faith. His liberality was evinced by his 
contributions to the building fund. The pastor was 
not a little worried over the apparently desperate 
case. At length, after much prayerful reflection, 
the thought came to him that John Foudray's 
prayers, and Calvin Fletcher's money were the main 
factors to be considered in the solution of the prob- 
lem. He formed his plans accordingly : then opened 
his mind to brother Foudray, who said, "Why, the 
Lord is in this, I spent much of last night in prayer 
about this very matter. Why, there is no longer 
any doubt about it ; we shall certainly finish the 
church before you go to conference. Brother Fletch- 
er has already given a thousand dollars, and if he 
will give another thousand, (I am now confident he 
will,) we can pull through." Inspired with new con- 
fidence the pastor went immediately, to lay the mat- 
ter before Brother Fletcher, and ask him for the 
money. Seeming to anticipate the pastor's errand, 
Brother Fletcher, of his own motion, said : "Brother 
Smith, I have a plan for finishing our church. I will 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 29 

give one thousand dollars more, if you will collect 
a like sum outside of the church. Brother Foudray 
and the rest of the brethren can pay a little more ; 
we can raise something at the dedication, and so 
make out the other thousand." His proposition 
was gladly accepted. He at once handed over five 
hundred dollars, and the builders were soon at work, 
finishing the now historic Roberts Chapel. For 
some twelve or thirteen weeks the pastor plied his 
trade as solicitor, on the streets, in the shops, stores, 
dwellings, and hotels, in order to make good his 
part of the contract. He received one hundred dol- 
lars from Gov. Whitcomb, fifty from Judge Wick, 
and smaller sums from Judge Blackford, Col. Quarles, 
Judge Dewey, and many others "too numerous to 
mention." Suffice it to say the pastor collected his 
thousand dollars. The house completed, Dr. Simp- 
son, president of the university at Greencastle, was 
called to dedicate the house to the worship and ser- 
vice of God. 

The building and grounds cost, in round numbers, 
eleven thousand dollars, — a large sum of money for 
that day. There was no debt to be provided for at 
the dedication. The leading men of the congrega- 
tion, in a spirit of noble generosity, came forward 
before the day of dedication, and cancelled every 
dollar of debt against the church. And so Roberts 
Chapel, as a lamb without blemish, was presented 
as an offering unto the Lord. 



I30 INDIANA METHODISM, 



CHAPTER XI. 

BISHOP HAMLINE— DR. ELLIOTT. 

September 24, 1845, the North Indiana Confer- 
ence met in the city of Lafayette, Bishop Hamline, 
president. 

The Sunday before conference the Roberts-chapel 
congregation had the pleasure of hearing Bishop 
Hamline and Dr. Charles Elliot, who were stopping 
over at Indianapolis on their way to the confer- 
ence. On Monday morning the bishop, Dr. Elliott, 
and the pastor of Roberts chapel set out in a pri- 
vate carriage for Lafayette. Just before starting it 
was agreed that the bishop should act as purser for 
the company, Dr. Elliott as chaplain, the pastor as 
charioteer. At noon of the first day the company 
brought up for dinner at the house of the Rev. 
James Ross, on the old Michigan road. The char- 
ioteer saw the jaded horses well provided few at the 
barn, and, on returning to the house, found the ven- 
erable doctor leisurely promenading under the shade- 
trees in the yard ; he also heard the sound of cook- 
ing going on in the house, and the bishop's voice 
in prayer! "Why, Dr. Elliot," said the charioteer, 
''why ar'n't you in the prayer- meeting ?" "Be- 
cause," responded the doctor in his Irish style, "you, 
Brother Smeth, have to look after the quadrupeds, 
jist ; I have to study editorials for the Western 
Christian Advocate ; and the bishop has nothing to 
do but to pray, and — may the Lord bless 'im, let 
'im pray on. " 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 131 

The bishop, in his Sunday sermon at Indianapo- 
lis, took occasion to speak of popular amusements, 
and sharply criticised attendance at theaters, cir- 
cuses, and the like. Becoming, in the course of his 
remarks, intensely excited, he said, "The man 
that makes me laugh is my enemy, and I cannot 
forgive him except on my knees before the Lord. " 
The pastor, on hearing this inconsiderate and fool- 
ish remark, said to himself, — " If it is a sin to 
laugh, then the bishop shall commit the sin of 
laughing the first chance I have to bring it about. " 
On the second day out from Indianapolis, as the 
company was crossing the Twelve Mile prairie, the 
opportunity came. The bishop and the doctor, who 
sat together in the back seat, fell into a discussion 
of the question whether, if the African Methodist 
Episcopal Church should decide to propose a union 
with the Methodist Episcopal Church, it would be 
wise, all things considered, to favor any compact of 
union giving the two sets of bishops, white and col- 
ored, co-ordinate authority. After a very earnest 
and exhaustive debate, the bishop favoring and the 
doctor opposing the suggested union, the doctor, 
leaning forward, thus appealed to the charioteer : 
" Well, Brother Smeth, and what do you think of 
it, sir?" Charioteer, anxious to improve his oppor- 
tunity, answered : " I am of your opinion, doctor ; 
it won't do at all ; and, if you choose to hear me, I 
will relate a bit of experience that has, I think, some 
bearing on the question. Last week the African 
Methodist Episcopal Church held an Annual con- 
ference in Indianapolis, Bishop Ouinn presiding. I 
had the privilege of attending. And being invited 



132 INDIANA METHODISM, 

by the bishop to a seat on the platform, I had an ex- 
cellent opportunity to witness the proceedings of 
the conference. The fact came out in the examin- 
ation of character, that a certain brother had, some- 
time during the year, withdrawn from the church, 
the African M. E. Church, and joined the Wes- 
leyaris. After a time he repented of his course, and 
came back to his presiding elder, asking pardon, say- 
ing he wanted to be restored to the bosom of his 
mother, and begging the presiding elder to re-in- 
state him on the circuit to which he had been as- 
signed by the bishop, the charge he had abandon- 
ed. The presiding elder said to the brother, — "I 
will comply with your request with this understand- 
ing, that the question of your re-instatement shall 
be re-opened, and the whole matter fully investi- 
gated, adjusted, and adjudicated at the annual con- 
ference next ensuing." When the name of the re- 
cusant brother was called, and the presiding elder 
had made his statement of the case, a spirited dis- 
cussion arose among the members of the confer- 
ence. The main question at issue in the debate 
was, not whether he should be disciplined at all, but 
what degree of punishment ought to be inflicted on 
the culprit. Finally this motion prevailed, 'that the 
brother be gently admonished by the chair, and 
that his character pass.' As soon as the vote had 
been taken, Bishop Quinn arose from his seat, and, 
looking most solemnly dignified, said, 'Where is 
that fellow ?' 'That fellow' was pointed out to him. 
' Walk up here, sir, ' said the bishop sternly. The 
poor man, like one going to the whipping- post or 
gallows, with down-cast eyes, trembling with fear, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 33 

presented himself before the august episcopos. 
'Stand right there, sir,' said the bishop. 'You 
know where you are ? I want you to understand 
that, by a vote of this conference, you are now in 
my hands; and, if, by the time I get through with 
you, there is a whole bone left in your skin, you 
may thank your stars. Why, here is Brother Smith, 
a white elder, who knows that, if a man in his con- 
ference had done as you have, they would have kill- 
ed him right straight. You are meaner than Ar- 
nold, who sold the troops at the red banks ; you are 
meaner than Judas, who sold his Lord for thirty 
pieces of silver ; you ain't fit to live, and you ain't 
fit to die ; the Lord, I know, wouldn't have you, 
and I don't b'lieve the devil wants you. Two years 
ago I married you to the church. Think of your 
ordination vows. On your knees, at the Terre 
Haute conference, you took the church for your 
spouse, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, 
till death should you part ; and now, low and be- 
hold ! you have left the wife that I married you to, 
and run off with another gal. Go and sit down, sir."' 
Addressing the bishop, Dr. Elliot exclaimed, "Well, 
well; there's episcopacy for you with a vengeance, 
sir. Brother Smith is right ; your notion of union 
won't do at all, sir. " The charioteer had accom- 
plished his purpose ; for, as he was careful to no- 
tice, the story of Bishop Quinn's "gentle" admoni- 
tion, was too much for the sedate Bishop Hamline. 
His sides fairly shook with laughter. 

The conference met in the basement of the Fifth- 
street church, which had just been completed under 
the able pastorate of the Rev. Samuel Brenton. 



134 INDIANA METHODISM, 

The preachers, thanks to the pastor for his pains- 
taking arrangements, were splendidly entertained 
in the young but goodly Star City. Conference 
over, the bishop and Dr. Elliott concluded to return 
to Indianapolis via Crawfordsville and Greencastle, 
in order to visit the Elston family and the Indiana 
Asbury University. The party was most hospita- 
bly entertained at Crawfordsville by the facetious 
Major Elston, his queenly wife, and accomplished 
daughters. Thence they made their way, facing a 
drenching rain, to the seat of the university, where 
they received a royal welcome at the homes of the 
Rev. S. C. Cooper and President Simpson. 

While en route from Greencastle to Indianapolis 
the bishop good humoredly remarked, "Well, 
Brother Smith, we thought we would send you back 
to finish your work at Roberts chapel ; to take care 
of the lambs you have received into the fold, and to 
complete the unfinished house of worship. Think 
you can do it ? " " Yes, " it was answered, " v/ith 
the help of the Lord. " 

The second year of the author's experience at the 
capital city has been to some extent anticipated. 
Mention has also been made of some of the good 
people of Indianapolis with whom the writer was 
associated during his two years' sojourn in the city 
as pastor. A few additional personals may be of 
interest. The following extracts are therefore in- 
serted, from a paper read in May, 1873, at the semi- 
centennial of the introduction of Methodism into 
Indianapolis. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 35 

THE LAITY. 

BY REV. DR. J. L. SMITH. 

The North Indiana Conference was organized at 
Ft. Wayne October 16, 1844, Bishop Waugh presid- 
ing. From that Conference I was appointed to a 
pastoral charge in this city. The whole number of 
members returned on the minutes for Indianapolis 
was 670; of these 282 belonged to the Western 
charge, now Meridian Street, and 388 to the Eastern 
charge, now Roberts Park. In the brief time allott- 
ed me I dare not attempt even a mention of a tithe 
of the worthy names which graced our records of 
that day. Among the more prominent at Wesley, 
I may name Morris, Paxton, Hanaman, Holland, 
Roll, and old mother Dobson. Nor could any of 
those mentioned pray more devoutly or shout more 
gracefully than could this mother in our Israel, 
whether in the church or at her daily toil. The 
children loved her, and hailed with delight the ap- 
pearance of wash-day when mother Dobson was 
coming to sing them pretty songs and tell them 
about Jesus and his love ; and, like the woman of 
the Gospel who was to be remembered, so shall 
mother Dobson not be forgotten. 

AUSTIN W. MORRIS, 

an earnest Christian, a man of large heart and broad 
views, enterprising and sagacious in business, de- 
vised liberal things, both for the progress of the 
church and the prosperity of the city. To his skill 
and liberality was attributable mainly the erection 
of Wesley Chapel, as is also due to his enterprise 



136 INDIANA METHODISM, 

and far-seeing wisdom, the credit of laying the 
foundations of the growth and rapidly increasing 
wealth of the city, with its centeralization of a rail- 
road system, that is now one of the wonders of the 
age. 

In the Eastern charge we had Foudray and the 
Fletchers, the Richmonds, the Phipps, the Becks, 
the Browns, the Brouses, the Wilkins, the Tute- 
wilers, the Goldsberrys, the Coburns, the Coopers, 
the Coldstocks, and Aunt Betsey Lawrence. "Aunt 
Betsey," although occupying a very different social 
position, was, nevertheless, the Mother Dobson of 
Roberts Chapel. The old court-house was our sanct- 
uary, and private houses our class-rooms. In the 
double parlors of Brother Goldsberry's house on 
the evening of Thursday, November 8, 1844, we 
held our first prayer meeting together. 



CALVIN FLETCHER, 

than whom I never had a better friend ; kind, plain, 
sometimes exacting, always just, often generous, 
and ever true. He was a rare man. He despised 
ostentation, he sounded no trumpet, his alms and 
his offerings were done in secret. Professionally, 
and in his business relations, doubtless many knew 
him better than I ; but without arrogance, I may 
say, that, in his church relations, in his religious 
life, and in his charities none knew him better than 
myself. I am glad of this opportunity, which now 
for the first time occures, to say, in this city, and in 
this presence, that he was one of the most scrupu- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 37 

lously honest, conscientious, upright and charitable 
men I ever knew. Some wondered why, with his 
ample fortune, he did not found an orphan asylum, 
build a college, or endow a university. I confess 
that I honor the men who do such things, even if 
their accumulations are the result of" grinding the 
faces of the poor " or of gambling in Wall-street 
stocks ; for it were better than the wages of unright- 
eousness be used in a good than a bad cause. Mr. 
Fletcher's charities, for the most part, were private, 
and he studiously labored to have them so. As an 
intimate friend I knew much of him. I have met 
the good man in almost every lane then in this city. 
He made it well nigh a daily business to call at the 
houses of the poor, having a systematic plan of vis- 
iting the sick and needy in the whole town ; inquir- 
ing at each place what was needed ; giving orders 
to grocers, millers, and dry goods merchants, and 
the next day settling his bills. We had an under- 
standing with each other that, if.in my pastoral vis- 
itation, I should find any needy family which he had 
failed to see, I was to report to him, and so he in 
turn was to report to me any case where he thought 
I ought to go as a minister. Revivals began now, 
as in the days of the first gospel preaching, at the 
foundation, with fishermen and tax gatherers for 
their first fruit. There are those in this city to-day, 
with others in the far West, and with still others in 
the heavenly world, who, thirty years ago, in their 
poverty, were induced, by the counsel and charities of 
Calvin Fletcher, to rise to positions of respectibility 
and usefulness. Eternity alone can show the results of 
such a man's work in co-operation with his minister 



138 INDIANA METHODISM, 

in bringing souls to Christ. In a free conversation, 
on one occasion, he said that when he came to In- 
dianapolis he had but fifty cents in the world. He 
paid that for two bushels of potatoes, and his wife 
gave one bushel of them to a poor family in the 
neighborhood. Just as he had brought his potatoes 
home, having wheeled them from the west side of 
White river.Dr. Coe called on him for a subscription 
to help build a Presbyterian church. The Doctor 
put the case strongly, saying "this is now the capi- 
tal of the State and no church in the village." Mr. 
Fletcher told him he had nothing to give, but, said 
he, "Doctor, I will try to be as good at least as the 
Scribes and Pharisees ; I will give you one-tenth of 
my income this year. Time passed on and little 
more was thought of the matter until the end of the 
year, when the Dr ; called again. Footing up the 
year's business it was found that according to agree- 
ment there was due on subscription $75; Mr Fletch- 
er added, "I have not from that time to this per- 
mitted a new year to usher in and find in my hands 
the Lord's money, but have uniformly given at least 
a tenth (often more) of my annual income every year 
of my life since that time, and by the help of God will 
do so till I die." 

I called on him once for the payment of $1,000 he 
had subscribed towards the building of Roberts 
chapel. He went to his desk and took out two notes 
of long standing, which he held against our archi- 
tect. Looking steadily at the old papers, for a few 
moments, which he was about to place in my hands 
for collection, "No," said he, "this will not do. I must 
not offer a lame lamb in sacrifice, but on; without 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 139 

blemish." Then turning leisurely to his drawer,and 
laying the notes back again, he handed me the thous- 
and dollars in gold. I could fill a volume with the 
history of the good deeds in the life of this great and 
good man, but I forbear. 

MRS. MARGARET GIVANS, 

who had been a member of the first class, organized 
in this city, an "elect lady," for many years presi- 
dent of the Bible Society, and a true mother in Is- 
rael, used to delight in narrating incidents of early 
Methodism in the city, when the eccentric Cravens 
was her pastor. This good women died at a com- 
paratively recent date full of faith and the Holy 
Ghost. 

MOTHER LYTLE, 

converted under the ministry of Gideon Ousley in 
the North of Ireland, who could repeat almost 
entire sermons as she had heard them from the lips 
of John Wesley, was no less remarkable for her in- 
tellectual strength than her power of simple child- 
like faith. She was even then well stricken in years, 
but had a mind unclouded and a clearness of spirit- 
ual vision rarely witnessed. Her lessons of wisdom, 
her holy life and her wonderful relations of Chris- 
tian experience, I trust will never be forgotten by 
her pastor of nearly thirty years ago. 

JOHN FOUDRAY, SR., 

a pioneer Methodist in Indianapolis, was a great 
man and a model Christian. As a class-leader I 
never saw his equal. His faith was abiding and un- 
swerving. He seemed always and everywhere to 



140 INDIANA METHODISM, 

know just what to say and how to say it. He was 
a mechanic without having learned a trade, a man 
of learning without a school education, and a prince 
in Israel by the power of the Holy Ghost. 



JOSHUA COOPER, 
a shoemaker by trade, a good man, singular in his 
manners, quaint in style, a regular Connecticut Yan- 
kee, had a way of drawing all his comparison or fig- 
ures of speech from his trade. On one occasion a 
clerical brother from Illinois preached for us in the 
court house. He seemed a little confused in thought 
and somewhatawkward in manner. Services ended, 
some one asked Brother Cooper what he thought of 
the sermon. "Well," said he, "I think the brother 
got the bristle off." Roberts Chapel was dedicated 
by President (now Bishop) Simpson, who preached 
as he only can preach. During the sermon Brother 
Cooper was much agitated, yet true to his Yankee 
nature, he was not very demonstrative. Returning 
home he was again asked what he thought of the 
sermon. "Oh," he replied, "that's a good job ; that 
work won't rip. 

JOHN WILKIN'S, 
than whom few better men ever lived, had peculiari- 
ties also. The following extract from a letter writ- 
ten by him to Bishop Morris in 1846, at the close of 
my two years' labor, which the good Bishop kindly 
permitted me to copy at the time, I know will sound 
familiar to those who knew Brother Wilkins: "Dear 
Bishop — Brother J. L. Smith has been our preacher 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 14 1 

for two years, and I suppose he cannot come back 
to us, according to our Discipline. Brother Smith 
has done us good, because he gets up before break- 
fast ; and after breakfast, on Sunday mornings, he 
goes to class ; and the congregation don't have to 
wait for him when preaching hour comes. I think 
about two hundred have been converted in the two 
years that Brother J. L. has been with us. I 
don't think that Brother Smith converted them ; the 
Lord did that. Our new church is done. Brother 
Smith worked hard to get it all finished up before 
conference, and it's paid for. Now we want another 
preacher. We don't make any choice, only we want 
a man that will visit the sick, and get up before 
breakfast." 

"Yours truly, 

John Wilkins." 
mrs. eliza richmond, 

whose husband in his lifetime had been a law part- 
ner of Mr. Fletcher, was a woman of rare gifts and 
accomplishments. For many years she taught a 
private school of young ladies and little boys in her 
own house. Her solicitude for those committed to 
her care was unremitting, not only as it regarded 
their duties, but as it also regarded the salvation of 
their souls. During the revival season with which 
we were favored, both in the old court house and in 
the basement of Robert's Chapel, Mrs. Richmond 
was a power for good. Many in this city who were 
led by her in early life to embrace the faith of the 
gospel have risen to prominence and to positions 
of influence in the community and in the church of 



142 INDIANA METHODISM, 

god, to call the name of Eliza Richmond blessed for 
having taught them the "right ways of the Lord." 
The autumn of 1846 was for many years distinguished: 
as the "sickly season." We had a praying band for 
the spiritual watch-care of the sick, of which Mrs. 
Richmond was the acknowledged leader. One 
of the principal families of my charge was pros- 
trated with typhoid fever. Two of the children died, 
and were buried without the knowledge of their 
parents, both of whom were apparently very rap- 
idly sinking to the grave. In a few days, how 
ever, the father rallied; consciousness returned, and 
with it bitter weeping at the loss of his children. 
On Thursday, September 10, at the close of our 
weekly prayer-meeting, a little company composed 
of Sister Richmond, Brother Foudray, and two or 
three others, called at the house of mourning. It 
proved to be a memorable occasion ; for, on the 
night, there was a remarkable test of faith, and a. 
never-to-be-forgotten proof of the power and efficacy 
of prayer. At ten o'clock the attending physicians,. 
Drs. Dunlap and Stipp, informed us that, in refer- 
ence to the sick woman, all was over, nothing more 
could be done, and that she could not possibly live 
longer than midnight. Some of us followed Dr. 
Stipp to the gate and urged him to remain, hoping 
against hope that her life might be spared to her 
stricken family and to her sorrowing church. "I 
repeat," said the doctor,, "nothing can be done;: 
the patient's extremities are now cold." "Shall we 
not rub them, doctor ?" asked some one. "Non- 
sense," said the doctor, "she is now dying." 

The doctor departed ; and, on our returning to 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 143 

the sick room, Mrs. Richmond said, "Do not the 
scriptures teach, — -'is any sick among you ? let him 
call for the elders of the church, and let them pray 
over him, and the prayer of faith shall save the sick,. 
and the Lord shall raise him up?' And now that 
the doctors have done all they can, let us apply to 
the Great Physician." For nearly two hours inces- 
sant prayer was offered, and such manifestations of 
divine power are rarely witnessed as was realized 
on that occasion. Just as the clock struck twelve 
the doctor's dying patient awoke from a sweet slum- 
ber and smilingly said, "Oh what delightful dreams 
I have had; I hear now the sweet music floating 
through the air." Her life had returned, and with it 
a conscious fullness of joy. In direct answer to 
prayer her life was spared ; and she and her honored 
husband still live in this city to bless the church and 
attest the "profit of prayer," Tyndallism and every 
other form of infidelity, to the contrary notwith- 
standing. 

IN CONCLUSION. 

Following the fashion of the times, though con- 
trary to my own judgment, I had intended to allude 
to those only who had passed away from earth. 
But now, having in one case referred to the living, 
allow me one other allusion and with that I shall 
close these hasty and very imperfect sketches. 

A young man had returned from an Eastern col- 
lege to his home in this city with health so impared 
as to be unable to pursue his studies. His father, 
thinking that traveling with moderate manual 
labor, might do his son good, concluded to 



144 INDIANA METHODISM, 

place him in the care of a Mr. Gentry, of 
Independence, Missouri, who was then engag- 
ed in fitting up a caravan of mules an mule- 
teers for the transportation of goods to Mex- 
ico. When my young friend was about leaving he 
came to my study and asked if a person could join 
church without being at meeting. I answered he 
could, and picking up what we called "the receiving 
book," a book for the names of probationers (which 
I trust has been preserved), I requested him to write 
his name, which he did. I then gave him a church 
letter, with a pledge on his part that he would try 
to give his heart to God. I immediately wrote the min- 
ister at Independence that he might soon expect a 
young man from Indianapolis — to seek him out and 
otherwise give him such attention as the case de- 
manded. 

The following brief extract from my young friend's 
first letter after his arrival at Independence may 
show how he was impressed : 

"Dear Brother — I find the preacher here very 
kind. He called for me to go with him to church 
and Sunday-school ; and, don't you think, they have 
away out here in Missouri the same kind of little 
blue-backed Sunday-school hymn books that we 
have at Roberts Chapel ?" His second letter stated 
that the train of pack mules would leave on the next 
day, sufficient in number to carry one hundred thous- 
and dollars' worth of goods to Santa Fe. In his 
next he gave a glowing account of the country, roam- 
ing bands of Mexicans, their use of the lasso, wild 
Indians, and how his company had almost famished 
for water, and closed in these words : "We camped 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 145 

last night among the ruins of an old city. My turn 
came to watch the mules grazing ; was out at mid- 
night, but instead of going to sleep I wandered away 
for secret prayer. While bowed beside a broken 
column in this once great city, I surrendered all, 
and gave my heart to God. I know that my dear 
father and blessed good mother, and you and Sister 
Richmond, and Father Foudray, and all my friends, 
have been praying for me. I have been trying to 
pray for myself ever since I left Indianapolis, and 
last night the Lord powerfully converted my soul, 
and I rejoice and praise His name amid the ruins 
and fallen columns of this ancient city of Pecos." 

Our young convert and party were afterwards 
captured by the Mexicans, but Mr. Gentry being a 
native of Canada, claimed protection under the 
British crown, and was sent under escort to Monte- 
rey, where General Taylor was in command, and 
from him obtained a safe conduct out of the enemy's 
country. It was a day to be remembered, for it was 
a day of joy and rejoicing, when, with restored 
health, and happy in the love of God, our young 
friend returned to his native city. Soon, however, 
was he again at college, where he graduated with 
distinction, became a traveling preacher, was once 
stationed at Wesley Chapel in this city, and to-day, 
though with broken health, and no longer able for 
the more active work of his high calling, lives in your 
midst, a useful citizen, a worthy son of a noble sire, 
an honored minister — the Rev. Elijah T. Fletcher, 
A. M. 

Much as I would love to speak of others, some 
gone to their reward in heaven, others yet linger- 



146 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ing on the shore of the river, I am admonished 
that already I have possibly trespassed on the 
time of the distinguished gentlemen who are to fol- 
low. I should be glad to say more— less, I could 
not consent to say. 



CHAPTER XII. 
LAPORTE — FT. WAYNE COLLEGE. 

The Conference of 1846, Bishop Morris, president, 
met in the city of LaPorte on the 16th of Septem- 
ber. 

Among the important acts of this conference was 
that of establishing the Ft. Wayne Female College. 
The hurculean task of raising subscriptions, which 
were taken in money, lands, or building material, 
and of educating the people up to the point that as- 
sured success, was performed mainly by G. M. 
Boyd, presiding elder of the Ft. Wayne District, 
and John S. Bayless, pastor of the Ft. Wayne sta- 
tion. The pastor of Roberts Chapel, being at the 
end of his term, must at this conference receive a 
new appointment. Having attended the commence- 
ment exercises of the Indiana Asbury University, 
first in 1845, again in 1846, and then, a few months la- 
ter, hearing the eloquent educational addresses made 
at the LaPorte conference, he became enthused on 
the subject of education. He was not unwilling, 
therefore, to accept from the bishop an appoint- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 147 

ment as agent for the university, to which office he 
had been elected by the joint Board of Trustees 
and visitors at their annual meeting iii June. 

A few weeks after conference the agent was 
snugly settled with his family among his old friends 
at Dublin, Wayne county, and at once entered upon 
his new work. That good man and grand preacher, 
George M. Beswick, was the popular and useful pre- 
siding elder of the district. John R. Tansey was the 
Dublin preacher. Wm. F. Wheeler,who had been sta- 
tioned at Dublin the year before, having superan- 
nuated on account of broken health, was also resid- 
ing in Dublin. T. S. Webb, afterwards so well 
known as a minister, was then living only two miles 
from Dublin, at Cambridge City. He was then a 
sturdy son of Vulcan, and a useful local preacher. 

A revival occurred at Dublin in the winter of 1846 
-47, known locally as "the great revival," which 
spread over the eastern part of the State generally. 
F. A. Hardin, then a boy, now, for these many years, 
the flaming evangelist, was converted at the Dublin 
meeting. 

The meeting had a splendid working force, — Bes- 
wick, Wheeler, Tansey, Webb, with Smith thrown 
in — Beswick to preach, Webb to exhort, Wheeler 
and Tansey to sing; and besides these, the minister, 
those mighty people in prayer, — Sisters Lebrick, 
Ream, Hood, Fortner and Van Buskirk, as also 
Brothers Ezra Hardin, Thomas Axe, Strickler For- 
rey, and Alfred Pierce. The Lord came down in 
wonderful power, to save the people. "The slain of 
the Lord were many." The power of divine grace 
"to kill and to make alive" was too manifest to be 



148 INDIANA METHODISM, 

mistaken. The influence of the meeting' still lives. 
Many of the children, even grandchildren, of those 
converted at the Dublin meeting, owe to "the great 
revival" a debt which they can never re- 
pay. Through all these years the revival fire kin- 
dled at Dublin has been flaming in the life of F. 
A. Hardin. The Lord greatly blessed him and so 
made him a great blessing to the world. He now 
has a son standing by his side on the walls of Zion, 
to perpetuate his name and ministry. 

John R. Tansey labored with great zeal and suc- 
cess in various fields in Indiana till 1852, when he 
was transferred to California by Bishop VVaugh. He 
rose to still greater distinction on the Pacific coast, 
serving the church several years as presiding elder, 
and filling numerous important stations. His breth- 
ren elected him as their delegate to the General Con- 
ference of 1872, which met at Brooklyn, N. Y. He 
has recently passed to the land of the immortals, 
whither most of his interesting family had preceeded 
him, leaving to the church the fragrance of a good 
name. Mrs. Tansey, a woman of uniform piety and 
good sense, who was favored with superior advan- 
tages in early life, had much to do with shaping the 
destiny of her husband. She still lives, a saintly her- 
itage of the California Conference. 

George M. Beswick, the Addison of Indiana 
preachers, full of faith and the Holy Ghost, — loved 
by most, respected by all, — a mighty man, a prince 
in Israel, has also gone to his reward. His devoted 
wife is still living. Several of his daughters are now 
the wives of ministers. 

William F. Wheeler, the sweet singer, the earn- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 149 

est and useful preacher, the popular presiding elder, 
labored about twenty years as an itinerant. He oc- 
cupied in the course of his ministry, many promi- 
nent stations, such as Peru, Richmond, Crawfords- 
ville, Logansport, LaFayette r and last of all, Indian- 
apolis district. He fell at his post, in the noontide 
of his manhood, having- many seals to his ministry. 
Doubtless he now has many stars in the crown of 
his rejoicing. 

Another minister mentioned in connection with 
the Dublin meeting-, has also been transferred to 
the church triumphant, — T. S. Webb. He died at 
Lebanon, Indiana, March, 31, 1877. He entered the 
traveling connection in the fall of 1847. The long list 
of his appointments includes all of the more impor- 
tant charges of the Northwest Indiana Conference. 
Few excelled him as a revivalist. He was the means 
of bringing many souls into the Kingdom of Christ. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

BISHOP JANES— TERRE HAUTE. 

The fourth session of the North Indiana Confer- 
ence was held in Roberts Chapel, Indianapolis, be- 
ginning on the 15th of September, 1847, Bishop 
Janes presiding — his first presidency over the confer- 
ence. A few of the members had met Bishop Janes 
at the General conference of 1844, when he was 
elected to the episcopacy ; many remembered his 



150 INDIANA METHODISM, 

great speech at Centerville in behalf of the Ameri- 
can Bible Society, in 1842 ; and all hailed with de- 
light his coming, to preside over the conference 
of 1847. 

As a reminder of how the bishops and their wid- 
ows, and the widows of other preachers who had 
died in the work, were provided for, the following 
report of sums collected and paid out for this pur- 
pose by the conference of 1847, * s respectfully sub- 
mitted : Bishops Hedding, Waugh, Morris, Ham- 
line, each, $14.13 ; Bishop Janes, $16.57 > widow of 
Bishop Roberts, $4.35 ; Widow Armstrong, $28 ; 
Widow Williams, $36 ; Widow Blue, $34 ; Widow 
May, $28 ; Widow Games, $28. 

The above showing does not indicate the full 
amount of salary received by the bishops, for they 
had claims on all the conferences ; but, for all the 
others, the report indicates the full amounts receiv- 
ed for the year. 

One of the preachers having been charged with 
immoral conduct, was brought to trial at this con- 
ference. The following question came up at the 
trial, and was submitted to Bishop Janes for decis- 
ion : "Where there is a charge for immoral conduct 
(lying), may the specification be sustained and the 
charge be not sustained ?" The bishop's decision 
was affirmative. The defendant's counsel thereupon 
admitted the specification (he said the words), but 
denied the charge, and the brother was acquitted. 

A notable day was the Sabbath of this conference 
on account of the bishop's sermon at Roberts chap- 
el. The text was 2 Cor. vii. 1, — "Having there- 
fore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. I 5 I 

ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 
perfecting holiness in the fear of God." For purity 
of diction, beauty of expression, wealth of thought, 
pathos and power, the sermon was peerless ; it fell 
upon the audience like a benediction from heaven ; 
and by the few yet living who were present, it will 
never be forgotten. 

The University agent, terminating his labors as 
such at this conference, was appointed to the Terre 
Haute station. The good people of the Prairie City 
received their new preacher with great cordiality. 
They and their pastor were especially favored in 
having for presiding elder, the Rev. Wm. H. Goode, 
D. D. Dr. Goode was a scholarly man, a sound theo- 
logian, a model gentleman. He had a refined sense 
of propriety, a full measure of caution and Christian 
prudence. He was, withal, a good preacher. His 
quarterly visitations, always eagerly looked forward 
• to by the people, were seasons of great profit to the 
church — "times of refreshing from the presence of 
the Lord." He planned wisely and well for the en- 
largement of the work. He was a man of enterprise, 
as all useful presiding elders are ; a man of great 
industry and perseverance as all presiding elders 
must be — if the honor of the office is to be main- 
tained. 



152 INDIANA METHODISM, 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE PRESIDING ELDERSHIP. 

As the office of presiding elder has been, and still 
is, occasionally subjected to adverse criticism, it 
may not be considered out of place to give the mat- 
ter a passing notice. 

The following minute occurs, in the records of the 
Wesleyan Methodist conference of England, in 1791 : 
"The circuits are now formed into districts, each to 
have not less than three nor more than eight circuits." 
(The "chairman of the districts, were in reality presid- 
ing elders.) The next year, 1792, the General confer- 
ence of the American church adopted a similar 
measure ; but before this, even from the organiza- 
tion of the church at the Christmas conference of 
1784, the presiding eldership existed in fact if not 
in name. "Notes on the Discipline" prepared by 
Coke and Asbury, in the early days of the church, 
present the subject in a light that is thoroughly 
rational and Scriptural. "And we can venture to 
assert," they say, "that there never has been an epis- 
copal church of any great extent that has not had 
ruling or presiding elders either expressly by name, 
as in the apostolic churches, or otherwise in effect." 
*#* "On this account it is, that all the modern epis- 
copal churches, have had their presiding or ruling 
elders under the name of vicars, archdeacons, rural 
deans," etc. * # * "The Moravians have presiding el- 
ders, who are invested with considerable authority, 
though they are simply termed elders." 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 53 

The fact is also worthy of notice, that Bishop As- 
bury and the preachers of the District conferences, 
not only found this order of men necessary, as they 
thought, but agreed to give them the name "presid- 
ing elders," a name perfectly Scriptural, though not 
occurring in the English version. Their action in 
this matter afterwards received the approbation of 
Mr. Wesley. And the General conference of 1792, 
realizing the necessity of the office, not only con- 
firmed all that Bishop Asbury and the District con- 
ference had done, but also adopted substantially 
the present section of the Discipline explanatory of 
the duties of presiding elders. 

"The Conference clearly saw that the bishops 
needed assistants ; that it was impossible for the 
bishops to properly superintend the vast work on 
this continent, so as to keep everything in order in 
the intervals of the conference, without other official 
men to assist them ; and as these in a very impor- 
tant sense were to be a vital part of the 'plan of the 
general itinerant superintendency ,' it was held that 
the authority of appointing them and changing 
them, ought, from the nature of things to be in the 
episcopacy." The power to appoint the suffragan 
bishop or presiding elder must be vested in the gen- 
eral superintendency, otherwise there might ensue 
the utmost confusion. Besides, the election of pre- 
siding elders by the Annual conferences would in- 
volve the preachers in feuds and heart-burnings, and 
cause great dissatisfaction am ^ng the people. 
Moreover, were the election plan adopted, it would 
soon be followed by an attempt to reconstruct 
the itinerant svstem. 



154 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Ever since the days of O'Kelly there have been 
restless spirits in the church, "given to change," de- 
siring to remove the ancient landmarks set up by 
the Fathers. Occasionally quasi-organizations have 
appeared, favoring change, made up, for the most 
part, of men having little or no practical experience 
as traveling preachers, — men, may it not be said ? 
who feel that they ought to be presiding elders or 
bishops. The unfortunate thing.is.that their qualifica- 
tions for these important offices have been overlook- 
ed. Hence those tears ! The ultimate purpose seems 
to be, to weaken or destroy the episcopacy. The at- 
tack on the presiding eldership is but the beginning 
of the campaign. When the presiding eldership is 
made elective the restless spirits that trouble Israel 
will have gained their first victory. 

These malcontents are ever ready to strike at the 
power of the general superintendants. In the An- 
nual conferences they are the movers of resolutions 
that tend to interfere with the bishops' prerogatives 
in the matter of making transfers. Sometimes they 
secure the passage of resolutions requesting the 
bishops to appoint no man to a district who has ever 
held the office of presiding elder for two terms or 
even one term, all of which means, when interpret- 
ed, that the bishops ought to be elected quadrenni- 
ally. In the General conference they would take, 
and have taken, from the bishops, the power to appoint 
members of the General missionary committee. 
The General conference of 1876 appointed a com- 
mittee on revision of the hymn-book. The report 
authorizing the appointment failed, in its original 
form, to give the bishops supervisory authority over 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 55 

the work of revision, and but for a timely amend- 
ment, they would have been entirely ignored. 

The office of presiding elder is indispensable. 
This is evident from the following considerations : — 

1. The bishops cannot of themselves understand 
the practical needs of the work throughout the dis- 
tricts, or give it the personal supervision it requires. 

2. There must be lodged somewhere, to be pru- 
dently exercised in the interval of the Annual con- 
ferences, authority to receive, change, or suspend 
preachers. This authority has been wisely vested 
in the bishops, or, when they are absent, in their 
representatives, the presiding elders. 

3. Who but the presiding elder can have an ade- 
quate knowledge of the district — of its people, wants, 
resources, etc. ? Who but he can properly look 
after the filling of vacancies in case of death, with- 
drawals, etc. ? And who is so well prepared as he 
to carry the work into the "regions beyond" ? How, 
for instance, could a preacher in charge of an im- 
portant circuit or station superintend the multitu- 
dinous interests and enterprises of a district ? The 
pastors can not do this work, neither can the 
bishops. The only men that can give the districts 
adequate supervision are the presiding elders. 

The present system, a "wheel within a wheel," 
has worked well. The experience of a hundred years 
has proved its efficiency. Why disturb it now ? 
Let it alone Amen. 



156 INDIANA METHODISM, 



CHAPTER XV. 

LITTLE GIRL'S TALK— ROBBER KILLED. 

Two camp-meetings were held in the summer or 
early autumn of 1848 near Terre Haute, one, on 
the farm of Jacob D. Early, some five miles above the 
city ; the other, in Brother Durham's grove, below 
the city, in the bounds of the Indiana conference, 
on Prairieton circuit. The pastor of Prairieton cir- 
cuit was Elijah D. Long ; Joseph Tarkington, pre- 
siding elder. Several hundred souls were converted 
at these memorable meetings. At the meeting be- 
low the city the writer witnessed two scenes which 
can never be forgotten while memory endures. 

On Sunday night of the Camp-meeting.a little girl 
not above seven or eight years of age, the daughter 
of a Dr. Hamilton, was converted to God with a 
large number of others. Within about an hour 
after her conversion, while many seekers were at 
the alter, the writer standing in the pulpit, looking 
over the vast audience and giving direction to the 
services, the same little girl came on the stand, her 
face all lighted up with joy, and in her childish way, 
-meekly asked the question, "Wouldn't you let me 
talk to the people ?" She was at once lifted and 
stood on a chair, when she delivered an exhortation 
in connection with her personal experience, so clear 
and impressive, that it sent a thrill throughout the 
large assembly. It was believed then by the most in- 
telligent men and woman present that the child 
was directly inspired. As the result of her talk more 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. I 5/ 

than fifty souls were there and then so convicted of 
sin that they came rushing to the alter, to find peace 
and pardon in believing-. Among the many who 
were brought to Christ through the child's speech, 
was her aged grandfather, who was a "Hicksite" 
Quaker, not to say a downright infidel. When the 
little girl had finished her talk to the public assem- 
bly, she said to the writer in a low voice "Now I'll go 
to the tent and see if I can find grandpapa." She 
did go, and, while seated on the old gentleman's 
knee, with one arm around his neck, looking him 
intently in the face through her tears of joy, she 
talked to him about his soul as only one soundly con- 
verted to God can talk ; and before the close of the 
meeting the, poor old man was happy in the Lord, 
and in turn, he, too, talked to the people, telling 
them what a dear Savior he had found. 

Among the many preachers who attended that 
remarkable camp-meeting was Rev. Thomas H. 
Files, a superannuated preacher of the Illinois con- 
ference, who died in 1848. The history of this man 
was a remarkable one. One incident only during 
his active labors in the ministry may here be men- 
tioned. On a certain occasion, when on his way to 
an appointment, night overtook him while yet quite 
a distance from the place where he was to preach 
the next day. Sometime after dark he reached the 
house of a friend, where he was well acquainted, and 
where he frequently stopped with the good people. 
Methodist preachers in those days had learned from 
"Dr. Clark's Manual," or from other sources, to wait 
upon themselves ; so the preacher put up his horse 
before going to the house. When he went in and 



158 INDIANA METHODISM, 

spoke to the family he found that the husband was 
away from home, and that there was no one about 
the house except the woman and her two or three little 
children. Thinking over the matter, Brother Files 
concluded that perhaps he had better go on, although 
the next house where he could stop, was five miles 
distant. It is possible there were gossippers in those 
days as now, and, lest it might be regarded as a 
little indelicate for him to stop all night in the ab- 
sence of the husband, he resolved not to stay. The 
good woman had given him his supper, when he, 
making a suitable apology, said to her that he would 
go on to Brother B — 's and accordingly brought out 
his horse, and got ready to leave. After he had 
mounted his horse, the woman came running down 
to the yard gate and said, "Brother Files, you must 
not go away to night." The preacher asked her if 
she was afraid to stay alone. She answered that she 
had stayed many a night alone with her children, 
but now she was impressed that he must stay. He 
insisted that he must go. At length she burst into 
tears, and said with great earnestness, "You cannot 
go, you shall not go ; for, if you do, I shall gather 
up my little ones and go to a neighbor's, two miles 
away, and stay all night, for I cannot, and will not, 
stay at home unless you stay with us." At last the 
preacher yielded and consented to remain. The 
house was built of hewn logs, two stories high. After 
prayers in the evening, the woman gave the preacher 
a candle and sent him up stairs to lodge for the night. 
Sometime after midnight, the screams of a woman 
below, awoke the preacher from a sound slumber, 
and he heard a hoarse voice saying to her, "Where 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. I 59 

is the money?" Her answer was, "Up stairs be- 
tween the feather-bed and the straw-tick"; then the 
man below responded, "Tell me the truth or I will 
take your life." The preacher, while in the act of 
retiring, noticed an old rusty, British musket stand- 
ing near the head of the bed, and when he heard the 
foot-falls of the robber on the stair-way, he silently 
arose from the bed and gathered up the old musket, 
determined, as soon as the thief came up to the head 
of the stairs, to knock him down with the breech of 
the gun ; then, in a moment, fearing that, if he did 
so, he might, in his excitement, strike so hard as to 
kill the man, he changed his mind, and decided, as 
the man came up, to snap the old flint-lock at him, 
which he did, and to the preacher's great surprise, 
the gun fired, and the man fell dead and rolled down 
to the bottom of the stair-way. The alarm was soon 
given ; the neighbors for miles around were gath- 
ered to the scene. The murdered man was found 
to have blackened his face and hands with burnt 
cork ; and when his face was washed, the wife and 
neighbors, including the preacher, stood awe-strick- 
en upon the discovery that the would-be robber was 
the brother and near neighbor of the woman's hus- 
band. 

This unnatural brother had learned, the day be- 
fore this tragedy occurred, that his brother, having 
sold a Jot of cattle, had received eight hundred dol- 
lars in money, and had left the money in the care 
of his wife while he was gone on business, expecting 
to return the next day. The preacher was not ar- 
rested or otherwise called to account for what he 
had done. And as to the cause that prompted the 



l6D INDIANA METHODISM, 

woman to insist so earnestly that the preacher 
should remain over night, declaring that she would 
not remain in the house unless he stayed also, is a 
question that this writer will leave to the casuist, the 
psychologist, or the believer in special providence. 
On the day that the Camp-meeting closed, Broth- 
er Files, who was then an old man, was walking 
across the camp-ground in company with the writer, 
when they met a poor, old, and haggard-looking 
man, hobbling along with two canes. The stranger 
fixed his eyes on the old preacher, who at once en- 
gaged his attention. The two aged persons gazed 
at each other for a time, when the old man threw 
down his canes, and they flew into each others arms, 
and both wept like children. After sobbing, and 
trying for some time to talk with each other, the 
aged minister, Brother Files, turned to the writer 
and said : "Brother Smith, you don't understand 
this ; this man and I were soldiers together ; we 
slept under the same blanket for forty-nine nights. 
We parted after the battle of Tippecanoe, which 
was on the 7th of November, 181 1. And for almost 
forty years we have never met until now ; we have 
suffered together and therefore we dearly love each 
other. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. l6l 



CHAPTER XVI. 

POPULAR AMUSEMENTS — DANCING. 

During the summer of 1848 there came to Terre 
Haute a French dancing master ; and, as it was 
found when his class was made up, he had persuad- 
ed one or two of the more thoughtless members of 
the church to patronize his school. This caused 
some excitement among the better people of the differ- 
ent churches, and the pastor of the Methodist church 
was requested by his official board to deliver a dis- 
course on popular amusements. He delivered a dis- 
course in response to this request, in which, while 
touching on circuses, theatres, cards, etc., by design 
he omitted all allusion to the dance, deferring that 
subject as suitable for the next Sabbath. At the 
close of the services he announced that, on the next 
Sunday morning, he would preach a special sermon 
on the subject of "dancing as an amusement." As 
the congregation was dispersing, Honorable Thom- 
as Dowling, facetiously remarked to the preacher, 
"Brother Smith, I believe I know all about dancing 
that I want to know ; and, if you will excuse me, I 
will go and hear Brother Jewett next Sunday" (the 
congregationalist minister,) Of course there was 
quite a stir among the people, on the subject of 
dancing and the dancing-school. And the Method- 
ist and Congregationalist ministers, happening to 
meet during the week, talked the matter over; and 
Rev. Mr. Jewett learned that at least one of the of- 
ficial members of Asbury church would be present 



\6l INDIANA METHODISM, 

at the services in the Congregationalist church, on the 
next Sunday morning. Brother Dowling, meeting 
his pastor during the next following week, addressed 
him as follows : "Well, Brother Smith, I'll never 
run away from home again, no matter what you 
preach about; for, I tell you, I simply 'jumped out of 
the frying-pan into the fire' for I havn't any doubt 
that Mr. Jewett's sermon was much more severe and 
uncharitable than yours." That the status of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, on the subject of danc- 
ing,, nearly fifty years ago, may be known to the 
present generation ; and, as the pastor at the re- 
quest of the official board published his sermon at 
the time, it is here given verbatim. 

The following is the correspondence that passed 
between the pastor and members of his official 
board : — 

Terre Haute, Ind., August 8, 1848. 
Reverend and Dear Sir : 

Entertaining sentiments similar to those held 
forth in your discourse on Sabbath, 6th inst, rela- 
tive to the subject of Fashionable Dancing, and be- 
lieving those setiments too valuable to be lost : We, 
therefore, beg that you commit the subject-matter 
of that discourse to writing, and submit the same 
for publication. 

By so doing you will confer a favor, and greatly 
oblige your brethern and friends, 

T. C. BUNTIN, 
Chas. Anderson, 
B. H. Cornwell, 
J. S. Casto. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 63 

Terre Haute, August 23, 1848. 
Brethern and Friends : 

Your kind note requesting a copy of my remarks 
on Dancing, was duly received, and after having ta- 
ken some time for reflection, I have consented to 
comply with your wishes ; but as the discourse was 
delivered extempore, I cannot promise anything 
like a verbatim copy. It is therefore with some re- 
luctance that I consent to its publication. If, how- 
ever, it shall be made instrumental in preventing or 
saving one soul from the errors of his or her ways, I 
shall feel amply rewarded. 

I am, dear sirs, your obedient servent and broth- 
er in Christ. J. L. Smith. 
To T. C. Buntin, Chas. Anderson, B. H. Cornwell, 

J. S. Casto. 



A SHORT DISCOURSE 

ON DANCING, 

DELIVERED IN THE 

ASBURY CHAPEL, 

IN 

TERRE HAUTE, INDIANA, 

BY THE 

REV. J. L. SMITH, 

OF THE NORTH INDIANA CONFERENCE, 
August 6th, 1848. 

A SHORT DISCOURSE ON DANCING. 
Having, on last Sabbath morning, made some ref- 
erence to popular amusements, in the form of Cir- 
cuses, Plays, etc., with their moral effects, I shall 



164 INDIANA METHODISM, 

proceed, this morning, agreeably to previous no- 
tice to discuss the subject of Modern Fashionable 
Dancing ; in the doing of which, it is not my design 
to be unkind in spirit, or severe in epithet, but shall 
studiously avoid anything like a personal attack up- 
on Master, pupil, or patron. At the same time, how- 
ever, shall, to the best of my ability, though soft in 
word, strive to be hard in argument — touching what 
I humbly conceive to be the sin of the practice, 
shall use the very strongest scriptural facts and il- 
lustrations ; should these offend any, it is a result 
with which I have nothing to do, and about which 
I feel no concern. That public amusements of va- 
rious kinds, are great and growing evils, I firmly be- 
lieve ; and that what is sometimes called fashion- 
able dancing schools, is not the least amongst them, 
with me is a fixed fact. It is therefore to wake up 
the public conscience, and call the attention of our 
fellow-citizens, and the lovers of sound morals gen- 
erally, to this subject that the following remarks 
are offered But especially do I desire to appeal to 
Church members — to professors of the religion of 
Christ, upon this subject. Brethern, will you suffer 
"The word of exhortation." He who said "Beji? 
not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed 
by the renewing of your mind" — may He guide in- 
to the way of truth and righteousness — may He "try 
us, and prove us, and see if there be any wicked way 
in us, and lead us into the way everlasting." My 
text or motto, which I shall use on this occasion is 
recorded 
Eccl. jd chap., 4-th vs. — "and a time to dance." 
One of the strongest proofs of the authenticity of 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 65 

the Scriptures, and of the truth of religion, to my 
mind, is this : that the Bible has been pressed, at 
least bad men have tried to press the Bible into 
their service, to defend the worst of causes, to coun- 
teifcit religion, and imitate in their outward conduct, 
those who were really pious. A very striking ex- 
ample of which, is found in the conduct of those 
who bring the Bible to prove the innocency of Fash- 
ionable Dancing. — We propose, in a few plain re- 
marks, briefly to review the history of Dancing, and 
then leave it with this enlightened audience to 
judge, both as to how far the Scriptures sustain it, 
and how far it may be necessary to practice it, in 
order best to promote morality, (not to say religion,) 
in this or any other community. Our text declares 
there is "a time to dance." We will then inquire 
when is, or was the suitable time, and what the 
proper manner of performing it ? 

/. — When the suitable time ? 

1st. It was a suitable time immediately upon the 
deliverance of God's people, from Egyptian bond- 
age. Therefore, we find in Exodus 15, 20, "And 
Miriam the phrophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a 
timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out af- 
ter her with timbrels and with dances. 

The occasion of the dance named in the above quo- 
tation, as well as the place, and the style of its per- 
formance,you will discover, was different in every es- 
sential particular from the modern Fashionable Danc- 
ing: 1st. The occasion was the miraculous deliver- 
ance of the children of Israel from a most cruel bond- 
age, and was the most expressive manifestation of 
gratitude and devout thanksgiving to God. When 



l66 INDIANA METHODISM, 

did we hear of the Fashionable Dance, being intro- 
duced for such purpose ? Would it not be nearer the 
truth to say "God was not in all their thoughts ?" 

2. The place — it was on the banks of the Red Sea, 
in the open air — not the ball room, or parlor, from 
which so many of the unfortunate youth of our own 
loved land have gone to premature graves. But — 

3. The style was different. There, it is said that 
when Miriam went out, all the women followed her. 
If the men danced at all, on that occasion, it was 
alone. How does this agree with modern manners 
in dancing ? 

II. — Another time to which the li'ise man may 
have referred, was the time of the annual feast, and 
is mentioned Judges 21, chap., ip, 21. 

"Then they said there is a feast in Shiloh yearly, 
in a place which is on the north side of Bethel," etc. 
"And behold if the daughters of Shiloh come out 
to dance in dances," etc. This was probably the 
feast of the Passover, which God commanded should 
be observed in commemoration of that dark and 
fearful night, in which the first-born of Egypt were 
slain, but when the Angel of death was commanded 
to pass-over, or spare the children of Israel who 
obeyed God's commands. This was also an act of 
religious worship, and of the most solemn kind. As 
to manner, like the first mentioned case, it was per- 
formed by the "Daughters of Shiloh," and by them on- 
ly, the principal woman going before, leading the ex- 
ercises, and the rest following her example, imitated 
her steps, which were not conducted according to a 
set well-known form, but they praised God — they 
danced extemporaneously. Thus they expressed 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. l6/ 

their gratitude, and paid their homage to God, in 
this modest, chaste manner ; not in the city ; not in 
a mixed crowd of both sexes ; but in the fields, in 
the open air, in a company of pious women only. 

III. — Another appropriate time, doubtless with 
Solomon, was when David {his father, then a young 
man,) demolished Goliah, of Gath, the champion of 
the Philistines. In ist. Samuel, 18th, 6, 7, it is thus 
'written : "And it came to pass as they came, when 
David was returned from the slaughter of the Philis- 
tine, that the women came out of all cities of Israel, 
singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tab- 
rets, with joy, and with instruments of music. And 
the zuomen answered one another as they played, and 
said, "Sad has slain his thousands, and David his 
tens of thousands." 

Believing, as they did, that God had, through the 
instrumentality of Saul and David, delivered Israel 
from a powerful foe, especially in David, did they see 
the power of God displayed. "For v/hile the two 
armies were encamped on opposite mountains, and 
meditating an engagement that might decide the 
destinies of the two nations, there went out a cham- 
pion from the camp of the Philistines, who proposed 
to settle the controversy by single combat. His 
hight was six cubits and a span. And he had an 
helmet of brass upon his head and was armed with a 
coat of mail ; and the weight of the coat was five 
thousand shekels of brass, and the staff of his spear 
was like a weaver's beam," etc. Thus does the in- 
spired historian faithfully and minutely describe 
this giant of olden times, who was a warrior by trade. 
On the other hand, David was a "stripling" accus- 



168 INDIANA METHODISM, 

tomed not to the field, but to the more quiet and 
gentle charge of "watching his father's flock" — not 
to the noise and din of battle, but to the bleating of 
the tender lambs — left by the direction of his father 
for a time, his pastoral labor to be performed by an- 
other, and went down to the armies, to see how his 
brethern fared, then under Saul's command upon 
duty. He heard there the gasconading uncircum- 
cised, Philistine, "defy the armies of the living 
God." His heart swelled with patriotic emotions; 
he remembered how signally he had been delivered 
from "the paws" of the lion and the bear ; nor would 
he in the fearful conflict about to be encountered, 
wear Saul's costly armour, but chose, rather the 
simple weapons with which he was familar, made so, 
along the streamlets of his father's pasture ground : 
with the sling then, "In the name of the Lord God 
of Hosts," did he smite the mighty man, and slew 
him. Upon seeing of which the Philistines fled the 
field in wild confusion, and were "slaughtered with 
a great slaughter." 

In the celebration of this victory there was music 
and dancing, not as a passtime, not of men and 
women promiscuously, but of women, in honor to 
God and his servants for the great deliverance 
wrought out for his people. 

IV. — Another proper time to dance, and for men 
to dance to, was when the Ark was removed from 
Kirjath-Jearim, to the Tabernacle which David had 
built for it in Jerusalem ; an account of which is 
given in 2d Samuel , 6, ij ; "And David danced be- 
fore the Lord zvith all his might, and David was 
girded zvith a linen ephod." 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 69 

During the reign of Saul, religion was much neg- 
lected. After David, his successor, was firmly es- 
tablished on the throne, he determined to reinstate 
the nation in the practice of piety and spiritual 
worship ; to this end therefore, "he gathered all the 
chosen men of Israel, to the number of thirty thous- 
and, and with great demonstrations of joy, brought 
up the Ark of God to Jerusalem. Meanwhile, David, 
elated with joy, threw off the imperial purple, put 
on a linen ephod and danced with all his might be- 
fore the Lord." Nor did he rejoice alone, but many, 
if not all, of the thirty thousand men followed him, 
as the women followed Miriam on the banks of the 
Red Sea, and thus, with timbrel, harps, and dance, 
praised God, expressing their warmest gratitude to 
the KING OF KINGS, who had so graciously vouch- 
safed the Schekinah, the symbol of His presence, to 
King David and his people. 

And now I ask in all, or any of the cases above 
cited, is there the least countenance given to mod- 
ern Fashionable Dancing ? Certainly not. Yet 
there are those who constantly wrest these passages 
as they do also the other Scriptures to their own 
distruction. But as these cases set forth in a suffi- 
ciently clear light, the manner, design, etc , of danc- 
ing anciently, that it was performed as an act of re- 
ligious worship — never by a promiscuous company, 
and therefore can never be brought forward with 
any pretense in favor of modern dancing, in a ball 
room, or elsewhere, I shall content myself to leave 
this part of the subject and proceed to call your at- 
tention to two other cases recorded in Scripture, of 
a very different character from those given, which, 



170 INDIANA METHODISM, 

in some respects at least, answer more nearly to the 
practice on that subject, among modern dancing 
parties. But before proceeding further, let me state 
that it is my firm belief, that if an attempt were 
now made, to get up. a popular amusement of any 
kind, in this community, by turning serious things 
into subjects of glee and fun, or solemn and sacred 
subjects into themes for jest and frivolity, with all 
the mania so prevalent, for scenes of mirth, that up- 
on the man who should be guilty of the sacrilegious 
act, your just frowns and indignation would come 
down like an avalanche. What an unaccountable 
inconsistency then, that men who would frown with 
disgust upon the profane person just supposed, will 
nevertheless, patronize the modern Fashionable 
Dancing Master,' who is following in the footsteps 
of those who first changed this act of religious wor- 
ship into the ceremonies of heathen idolatry, and 
then in a no less heathen and criminal manner, 
make it a matter of mere amusement, or, if you 
please, of polite and fashionable breeding. The. cel- 
ebrated Dr. Jortin has remarked that, idolatry fav- 
ored human passions ; it required no morality ; its 
religious ritual consisted of splendid ceremonies, 
reveling, DANCING, nocturnal assemblies, impure 
and scandalous mysteries, debauched priests, and 
gods who were both slaves and patrons to all sorts 
of vices. As early as the times of the historian Rol- 
lin, dancing had been made a part of the public 
amusements of the age. Speaking of the different 
athletic exercises he says, "the Greeks, by nature 
warlike, and equally intent upon forming the 
bodies and minds of their youth, introduced 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 171 

these exercises, and annexed honors, in order to 
prepare the youngest sort for the profession of arms, 
to confirm their health, to render them strong in 
close fight, (the use of fire-arms being then un- 
known,) the strength of body generally decided the 
victory. It is true, these exercises introduced pub- 
lic Masters, who taught them to young persons, and 
practicing them with success, made public show 
and ostentation of their skill. This sort of men ap- 
plied themselves solely to the practice of this art, 
and carried it to an excess. They formed it into a 
kind of science, by the addition of rules and refine- 
ments, often challenging each other out of vain em- 
ulation, till at length they degenerated into a pro- 
fession of people, who, without any other employ- 
ment or merit, exhibited themselves as a sight for 
public diversion." Our Dancing Masters, (he con- 
tinues,) are not unlike them, in this respect. He re- 
garded them in his day, (as he did the teachers of 
the, athletic exercises in the latter times in Greece,) 
a set of degenerated mortals. And I know not that 
we have any reason for believing that that class of 
men have improved since the days of our historian. 
And I cannot see that it makes it better, that this 
class of men, or rather this same system of capering, 
jumping, and skipping,(called dancing,) should, in its 
journeyings, have gone to France, and in the great 
city of Paris, the beau-ideal of all that is polite, and 
then finally make its ways to our shores, over its 
own sign manual, "FRENCH DANCING MASTER." 

I repeat, that I cannot see that these circumstan- 
ces change it for the better. Let me then ask, if 
these are the men, these profane men — thes^, many 



172 INDIANA METHODISM, 

of whom, are mere renegades, are these to be the 
instructors of America's sons and daughters ? And, 
will we, as parents, yea more, as christian parents, 
commit to such men as these, the instruction of our 
children ? Will we voluntarily transfer the training 
of the little IMMORTALS, with which kind Heaven 
has blest us, to such hands ? And, I ask again, will 
Christians do this? "O ! tell it not in Gath ; pub- 
lish it not in the streets of Askelon, lest the sons of 
Philistia rejoice ;*lest infidelity triumph ; lest "black 
lodge" French infidelity, should again uncover its 
brawny arm, and with gigantic step sweep over our 
happy land, and convulse this republic with a revo- 
lution, ten fold more fearful than that which brought 
down the curse of the righteous Jehovah upon the 
French as a nation. 

Having shown how the practice of dancing has 
been changed from an act of devotion, and been 
made to subserve the cause of sin, I will now invite 
your attention to the two cases before spoken of. 

The first is recorded Job 21, chap., 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 
"wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea are 
mighty in power; their seed is established in their 
sight with them, and their offspring before their 
eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is 
the rod of God upon them. They send forth their 
little ones like a flock, and their children DANCE 
— they spend their days in mirth." "Therefore they 
say unto God, depart from us; for we desire not the 
knowledge of thy ways. What is the Almighty 
that we should serve him ? And what profit should 
we have if we pray unto him ?" This is doubtless 
a clear case of dancing for amusement, nor can we 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 173 

mistake the character of those engaged in it. They 
are said to be wicked; according then, to Job, that 
man or woman is wicked, who, in their acts or in- 
fluence, exhibit any or all of the following character- 
istics: 

ist. What they say — they say unto God, depart 
from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy 
ways. They say what is the Almighty that we 
should serve Him ? And what profit should we 
have, if we pray unto Him ? 

2d. What they do — they spend their days in 
mirth. And last, though not least, their children 
Dance. Here contempt for God and religion are 
associated, in God's own book, and by his direction, 
(the spirit of inspiration,) with pride, luxury, and 
dancing- for amusement. And are the persons here 
described by the patient and pious Job, examples 
for us ? or patterns in their moral character, accord- 
ing to which we shall endeavor to have our children- 
trained for usefulness in the world ? — for polite 
society. Is it true, as we sometimes hear, that unless 
they are thus educated in this school of wickedness, 
they cannot shine in company ? cannot take rank 
among the elite ? But let me enquire gravely, are 
Christians to be duped by such arguments from such 
men ? Shall Christians become so contaminated by 
the foul breath of these itinerant masses of moral 
putrefacation, as to permit these tender "olive 
plants" to be blighted ? Will they permit their dear 
children to inhale the pestiferous effluvium until 
untold numbers of the fair youth of the land ( 
shall be infected with the moral poison — polluted — 
ruined — destroyed ! 



174 INDIANA METHODISM, 

The second case to which you are referred, is 
recorded in the Gospel according to St. Matthew, 
chap. 14; 6, 7, 8 vs.; "But when Herod's birthday was 
kept, the daughter of Herodias DANCED before them, 
and pleased Herod, whereupon he promised, with 
an oath, to give her whatsoever she would ask. And 
she being before instructed of her mother, said give 
me here, John Baptist's head in a charger." This is 
also a clear case of dancing for amusement. 

The fame of John, as the forerunner of Christ, 
his eccentric and abstemious habits, but above all, 
his universal popularity, probably induced Herod to 
desire an interview, supposing, perhaps, that John 
would flatter him as his vassals were accustomed to 
do. Instead of this, however, as a true and faithful 
minister, he reproved him for having married his 
brother Philip's wife, he being yet alive. This ex- 
asperated Herod, and he immediately threw John 
into prison, and had it not been that he feared the 
people, would have killed him at once. While John 
was in prison, Herod made a feast to celebrate his 
birthday. Present on that occasion were his lords, 
his high captains, and chief men of Galilee. It was 
before this company, viz.\ in the presence of the 
prince and his guests, that Salome, Herodias' 
Daughter, danced. He was so delighted with the 
performance, that he rashly promised to give her 
whatever she would ask, even to the half of his 
kingdom. The damsel applied to her mother for 
instruction. The mother, from the time the Baptist 
rebuked her and her husband so severely, yet so 
justly, had been "nursing her wrath to keep it warm," 
and was only waiting an opportunity for revenge. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 175 

She therefore directed her fair, delicate, dancing 
daughter, to ask for the bloody boon, the head of 
this holy man in a charger. 

This Herodias, and mother of Miss Philip, was 
the daughter of Aeistobulus and Bernice, and grand- 
daughter of Herod the Great. Her first marriage 
was with Herod Philip, her uncle, who was the father 
of Salome, the celebrated dancer. Herodias, however, 
left her husband and lived publicly with Herod 
Antipas, her brother-in-law, who had before been 
married to the daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia 
Petrea. As soon as Aretas understand that Herod 
had determined to put away his daughter, he pre- 
pared to make war on him; the two armies met, and 
that of Herod was cut to pieces by the Arabians — 
and this, Josephus says, was supposed to be judge- 
ment of God on him, for the murder of John the 
Baptist. Dr. Adam Clark, in his commentary, thus 
remarks : 

ON THE WHOLE WE MAY OBSERVE, 

"that feasting and dancing are but too commonly 
the occasions of sin. After so fatal an example as 
this, can we doubt whether balls are not snares for 
souls, Behold here, ye professedly religious pa- 
rents, the fruits of what was doubtless called, in those 
times, elegant breeding and accomplised dancing ! 
Fix your eyes on that vicious mother, that ruined 
daughter, and especially on that murdered embas- 
sador of God, and then send your children to gen- 
teel boarding schools, to learn the accomplishments 
of Dancing ! where the fear of God makes no part 
of the education." But do you ask now if Solomon 



1/6 INDIANA METHODISM, 

intended to say there is a <k time to dance," as did 
the wicked family of which Job speaks ? and as 
danced the daughter of Herodias ? We answer, he 
also says, "there is a time to kill ;"will any one there- 
fore argue that it is right to kill ? or that it may be 
done as a harmless and innocent amusement ? But 
after all it will be said by some professed christians, 
and even some ministers : shame ! that a minister of 
Christ should say it ! but it will be said ; it has been 
said ! — that these things are necessary, that noth- 
ing is so admirably calculated to develop the phys- 
ical powers, as the dance, nothing so good amuse- 
ment for the mind, as the circus and play-house. I 
lately read a tract written by a MINISTER, upon 
the"Necessity of Amusements, "who, with the help of 
Phrenology and Swedenborgianism, was enabled to 
get out some twenty-four pages in defence of what 
the vicious, the profane, the idle, the profligate, and 
often the unsuspecting and comparatively innocent- 
in a word, the irreligious world are already intoxi- 
cated with, and almost running crazy after. How- 
beit, the author shows a talent worthy of a better 
cause, and I would kindly suggest that if that tract 
gives an expose of Baron Swedenborg's system of 
religion, which I learned the author of said tract is 
now teaching to the good people of Columbus, that 
he would do well at his earliest convenience to ex- 
change it for a good stock of common sense, which 
he will find, I doubt not, on trial, will enable him to 
be much more useful to his fellow-citizens in pro- 
moting sound morals, and which would be to him, 
were he in possession of it, of unspeakable advan- 
tage, if practically applied amid the stern realities 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 7/ 

of real life in this real world. For should an Angel 
from Heaven declare it to the contrary, still proof 
would be immutable, and a violation of the divine 
law would be sin. True, we may look for deluded 
men, and truckling, trimming, time-serving priests, 
to lend their influence to the powers of darkness, 
and who, catering to the spirit of the world, say, 
"Put me in the priest's office that I may have a mor- 
sel of bread ;" yet above all, these petty influences, 
we see hung out the banner of the cross, and on it 
inscribed, free grace ; then follows, "Be ye holy, for 
I am holy." Then, if we would live with God in 
Heaven, we should have no fellowship with the un- 
fruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 
I cannot better sum up what I have attempted to 
prove than in the following words : 

ist. That dancing was a religious act, both in the 
true and also in the idol worship ; 

2d. That it was practiced exclusively on joyful 
occasions, such as national jubilees, or great victo- 
ries ; 

3d. That it was performed on such great occa- 
sions only by one of the sexes ; 

4th. That it was performed usually in day-time, 
in the open air, in highways, fields, and groves ; 

5th. That men who perverted dancing from a 
sacred use, to purposes of amusement, were deem- 
ed infamous ; 

6th. That no instances of dancing are found upon 
record in the Bible, in which the two sexes united 
in the exercise either as an act of worship or 
amusement ; 

Lastly, That there are no instances upon record in 



178 INDIANA METHODISM, 

the Bible of social dancing for amusement, except 
that of "vain fellows," void of shame, alluded to by 
Michal, of the irreligious families described by Job, 
which produced increased impiety, and ended in 
destruction ; and of Herodias, which terminated in 
the rash acts of Herod and the murder of John the 
Baptist. I now leave the subject with you, to de- 
termine what is the duty of christian parents ; in- 
deed, of all parents to their children, in this matter. 
Will you give countenance to vice, or will you "be 
'valiant for the truth." It is your privilege as chris- 
tians and as christian parents, to "rejoice evermore" 
— to imitate Him who was the embodiment of per- 
fect moral excellence, who never attended a place 
of mere amusement, "often wept but never laughed." 
But let me ask, who are they that are found sup- 
porting and patronizing the dance ? Is it the man 
punctual and faithful in all his religious duties ? or 
is it he who has become cold, or at least lukewarm, 
in his zeal for God and his cause ? consequently, in a 
great measure, if not wholly lost his spiritual enjoy- 
ment, now disposed to seek for pleasure where he has 
been so often disappointed before. Let his absence 
from the house of God — from the prudential means of 
grace — but especially from the Lord's table, answer 
these questions. Well might the prophet say of 
such, they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph- 
they are perfectly at "ease in Zion" — they love 
pomp and fashion — they, actuated by the spirit of 
the world, are fond of flattery and ease, and pleas- 
ure, and dancing, but they care not for the affliction 
of Joseph — the minister may weep and pray — Zion 
may be desolate, distracted, torn, but they have no 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 79 

tears to shed, no prayers to offer— alas ! for such 
christians — wo ! wo ! to them that are at ease in Zi- 
on, for God has not called us to ease, but to activity 
— not to sin, but to holiness. And you, my dear 
young friends, let me beseech you to avoid all friv- 
olities, which are always useless, and often most in- 
jurious. "Come out from among them, and be sep- 
arate, and I will receive you, and you shall be my 
sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." To 
His daughters, He says, "Let your adorning be that 
of a meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God 
is of great price." To both sons and daughters, He 
says, "Rejoice ever more, and let this be your re- 
joicing, the testimony of a good conscience, rejoice 
that your names are written in Heaven." To the 
whole world, He says, "look unto me all ye ends of 
the earth, and be saved. Be saved from sin, be 
saved from all desires to seek after sinful amuse- 
ments of every kind, that you may live soberly, 
righteously and Godly in this present evil world." 
Then shall you be fitted for usefulness in life, a glo- 
rious triumph in death, and a happy immortality in 
Heaven. That we may all live approved of God, 
and meet at last in the climes of unfading glory, is 
the prayer of your servant, for Christ's sake. Amen. 



On returning to the city after the close of the 
camp meeting, the Terre Haute pastor called on a 
friend, Mr. Jacob D. Early, on which occasion, Mr. 
Early grasped the hand of the preacher, and with 
much emotion, said : "Mr. Smith, I heard your ser- 
mon at the camp-ground on Sunday afternoon, 



1 80 INDIANA METHODISM, 

and I would give my check for a thousand dol- 
lars; yes, I would give ten thousand dollars cash, 
this morning, if I had religion." To which the 
preacher replied, "Mr. Early, although you are said 
to be the wealthiest man in Vigo county, yet, with 
God, there is no respector of persons. You cannot 
purchase the love of God with money, and, if you 
are ever converted, you must be saved precisely on 
the same terms as the hired man in your pork- 
house. You must enter in at the straight gate; for, 
while salvation is offered to the rich and the poor 
alike, precisely on the same terms, the Savior hath 
said : "He that climbeth up some other way, the 
same is a thief and robber." Mr. Early, who was 
much of a gentleman, and exceedingly kind and 
liberal in the support of the gospel, was not a mem- 
ber of the church, but, in his general conduct, was 
an upright, moral man, and stood high in the esti- 
mation of the people. He was an ardent whig in 
politics, and, as in 1848 political excitement was at 
white heat, the sermon, to which he alluded at the 
camp-ground, on the previous Sunday afternoon, 
was preached from the words, "We will rejoice in 
thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will 
set our banners." — Psalms xx, 5. Mr. Early, being a 
little dull in hearing, sat in front of the stand, and, 
while the preacher alluded to the banners floating 
over political gatherings, he became much excited; 
and afterwards wept freely, especially when the 
preacher grew warm, and described as best he could 
the "banner of the cross," saying: "This banner is 
waving over all, not only over this entire camp- 
ground, but over a world of redeemed sinners." 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. l8l 

Among the leading families of our church in 
Terre Haute at the time, special mention should be 
made of Jabez Casto and wife, one of whose 
daughters is now the wife of Rev. Thomas Meredith; 
Brother and Sister Merry; Dr. George Clippenger 
T. C. Buntin, Brothers Copeland, the Hagers, the 
Evanses, the Hartsocks, the Sibleys, the Nailors, the 
Jacksons, the Gobins, the Sasseens, the Snyders, the 
Clivers, the Andersons, the Conns, the Dowlings, 
and the Silver-mouthed, the Honorable Richard W. 
Thompson, who with his Christian wife, were 
among the elite of the city. 

At the house of Brother Casto, the pastor's little 
daughter, seven years of age, and a daughter of 
Brother Casto, now Mrs. Meredith, with other little 
girls, were in the habit of holding prayer-meetings 
among themselves. On one occasion, when the 
children walked out into the sitting-room, at the 
close of their prayer-meeting, good Sister Merry 
had called in, whom the pastor's daughter addressed 
as follows, — "Sister Merry, are you a Methodist ?" 
"Yes," said she, "Lizzy, I am a sort of a one." To 
which the child replied, "I think you are a sort of a 
one, or else you wouldn't be wearing ear-rings." 
And it may here be added that jewelry was not 
so much worn by the members of the Methodist 
church fifty years ago as now. 

The quickening forces growing out of the two 
camp-meetings before mentioned, were deeply felt 
through the membership of the Methodist church 
in the city, resulted in a gracious revival, which 
continued to the close of the conference year. 



182 INDIANA METHODISM, 



CHAPTER XVII. 

APPOINTED P. E. — THE MEDSKER FAMILY. 

On the 6th day of September, 1848, the North 
Indiana conference met at Greencastle, with Bishop 
Hamline in the chair, and S. T. Gilette, as secre- 
tary. At this conference the pastor of Terre Haute 
station, who had been elected a member of the board 
of trustees of the Indiana Asbury University in 
June of that year, (he has served in that capacity for 
thirty consecutive years,) was doomed to a great 
disappointment. He fully expected to be returned to 
Terre Haute for the second year, but, when the ap- 
pointments were read out, they stood for the La 
Fayette district as follows : 

John L. Smith, Presiding Elder, 

La Fayette, G. M. Boyd. 

Pittsburg, Benjamin Winans. 

Monticello Mission, Mathew Finemore. 

Rensselaer, S. N. Campbell. 

Harrisonville, James Johnson. 

Independence, J. White, N. E. Manville. 

Williamsport, Ithimar H. Aldrich. 

Perrysville, J. B. DeMotte. 

Newport, Rueben D. Robinson. 

Clinton, George W. Warner. 
As soon as possible after the close of the confer- 
ence, the new presiding elder removed, and settled 
his family for the year at Perrysville, in Vermilion 
county. Here he found excellent people and pleas- 
ant associations for himself and family ; among whom 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 83 

may be mentioned the Jones', the McNeil's, the 
Brown's, the Blair's, the Dunlap's, the Smith's, the 
Goldsberry's, the Compton's, and Rev. J. B. De- 
Motte, the stationed preacher, then in his prime, 
and at his best. He was genial, modest, discreet, 
upright, and good as he ever has been. His wife was 
one of the excellent of the earth, and in their noble 
son, Professor J. B. DeMotte, the family name con- 
tinues to be borne on with increasing luster. Most 
of the people then living, are now (1892) enjoying 
their reward in Heaven. Brother McNeil, his good 
wife, and their two sons, yet live and are still faith- 
ful and on their way to the final reward of the saints. 

The first quarterly meeting held by the presiding 
elder was at what was then called Big Pine Church, 
now Pine Village. Here he found the Medsker's, 
who had moved to Indiana from Green County, 
Ohio. Jacob Medsker, at the time named, though 
about eighty years of age, was still active in the 
church. He had owned a little corn-mill on Cae- 
sar's creek in Ohio, where he formerly lived. To 
this mill, when a boy, the writer was frequently sent 
on horseback with a grist of corn. On one occasion, 
while waiting his turn, which was nearly a whole 
day, he was invited by the old gentleman to go up 
to the house with him to dinner. There he found 
Mother Medsker spinning flax on a little wheel, and, 
for the first time in his life, heard the story from her, 
with its signification, of what is known as ground hog 
day. They were good, honest, German people, and 
enthusiastic Methodists. 

A few weeks after the time just mentioned, the 
writer attended a quarterly meeting in Xenia, Ohio, 



1 84 INDIANA METHODISM, 

where Rev. James B. Finley was present as presid- 
ing elder. At this meeting, among many others 
of the older Methodist people, father Medsker arose 
and spoke in the love-feast, and, turning to Mr, Fin- 
ley, he said, "Brother Finley, you remember what 
times we use to have when we were young men to- 
gether, drinking, fighting and carousing on Sunday 
as well as any other time. How well," said he "do 
I remember when you and John B. had that awful 
fight at New Market in Highland county" — brother 
Medsker was not telling how the trouble ended, but 
the presiding elder spoke out and said, "Yes, I re- 
member it very well, and I remember another thing 
about it — I remember I whipped the fellow." At 
this love-feast another incident occurred of a much 
more novel and serious character. Hon. John A., 
ex-member of congress, who had very recently 
joined the church on probation, whose wife was a 
most excellent Christian lady, arose and spoke as 
follows : "politics is ruining the church" (the parties 
then were Whigs and Democrats.) Mr. A. was a 
pronounced Democrat, and Rev. J. B. Finley an en- 
thusiastic Whig. Mr. A. continued, — "for instance, 
Brother Finley rode into town on Friday afternoon, 
and refused to put up at my house because I was a 
Democrat." "That's a lie," responded Finley ; to 
which Mr. A. replied, "I say it's a fact" ; and Mr. F. 
rejoined, "I say it is false, and now, sir, if you have 
any religious experience to tell, let us have it, but as 
to your lugging politics in this lovefeast, it cannot 
be done." Mr. A. — "I will talk as I please, sir." Mr. 
Finley — "Sit down sir." Mr. A.— "I'll sit down when I 
get ready." Mr. F. then gathered up a large hickory 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 85 

cane and started from the pulpit towards Mr. A... 
whereupon Mr. A. seated himself, and so ended this 
strange episode. But stranger still to tell, after all 
had occurred, of which mention has been made in 
this connection, the meeting wound up, not only 
with a shout, but with a general hand-shaking and 
good feeling ; and none met more cordially to greet 
each other than the irate ex-congressman and the 
tender hearted Finley. 

Returning to the presiding elder's first quarterly 
meeting atBig Pine. There were three generations of 
the Medskers ; besides whom there were the Sales', 
the Little's, the Anderson's, and many others equally 
worthy who have passed on before. Time and space 
would fail to mention Benjamin Whitcomb, with his 
noble son John ; Esquire Rush and Ryerson, with 
many others on Clinton circuit ; On Newport circuit 
were brother Zener and family, brother Sexton, 
William Hall, and his cultured daughter, who married 
Rev. Luther T. Woodward, and were transfered to 
Oregon; the Porter's the Collett's, (the wife of Jose- 
phus Collett was the daughter of Governor Tiffin, 
of Ohio,) the Nailor family at Eugene, where the 
first Methodist church was built above Vincennes, 
on the Wabash, and dedicated by the Rev. James 
Armstrong. The father of the Nayler family assist- 
ed Mr. Armstrong, as the leading member of the 
church at Eugene, at the dedication. His honored 
son, Mr. Wilson Nailer, is now one of the wealthy 
and substantial citizens of the city of Terre Haute, 
who, with his good wife, stood by the presiding eld- 
er and the preacher-in-charge,in building the second, 
and still standing church, to take the place in Eu- 



l86 INDIANA METHODISM, 

gene of the first church, as mentioned above. 

On Independence circuit lived the grand old 
Methodist families as follow : the Boyers, the John- 
sons, the Moores, the Vantattas, the Daughertys, 
Rev. Hackaliah Vredenburg, the Sappingtons, the 
Fosters. Of the Foster family, is the noble wife of 
Rev. C. N. Simms D. D., an Indiana boy, now Chan • 
cellor of Syracuse University, New York. 

In the city of LaFayette lived William, Robert, 
Joshua, and Ralph Heath, and their families, the 
Fords, the Samples, the Welles, the Stockwells, the 
Jones, the Seversons, and many others of the faith- 
ful sons and daughters of the Lord. The wife of the 
distinguished Rev. Dr. McMullen was the daughter 
of Robert Heath, and this elect lady still lives, the 
pride of her husband and a benediction to her noble 
sons and amiable daughters. 

In the fall of 1849 ^ ie Annual conference was 
held in the city of Logansport, Bishop Waugh pre- 
siding ; and Delphi circuit was added to the charges 
in LaFayette district, and the presiding elder was 
reappointed. Soon after conference, he removed 
his family and settled in LaFayette. 

In the summer of 1850 a camp-meeting was held 
on Poolsville circuit, near the residence of Brother 
Thomas Boyer. The sweet singer and lovable 
Brother, William F. Wheeler, was the preacher-in- 
charge. 

In those days it was the standing order at camp- 
meetings for the men and women to sit apart in the 
congregation. The Sabbath was a beautiful day 
and thousands gathered on the sacred ground. In 
the afternoon of that day, and just after the presid- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. iSy 

ing elder had announced that there should be no 
intrusion or violation of the order, a certain cele- 
brated rowdy, C. W. by name, arose, walked across 
the central aisle, and seated himself on the women's 
side. The elder, who was busy at the alter services,, 
said to Brother D, "Go and remove that fellow" 
(refering to the rowdy) Brother D. approached W., 
spoke to him kindly, requesting him to take a seat 
on his own side among the men. W. at once opened 
one side of his vest, and exhibited the handle of a 
dirk, which he carried in his side pocket ; at this 
Brother D. was alarmed, and returned to the stand 
for help. The P. E. said to Brother D. "You re- 
main here and help with the meeting and I will go 
and take care of the young man." W., seeing the 
movement, arose and stood immediately in the rear 
of several ladies who were dressed in white, and 
commenced spitting tobacco juice on the folds of 
their dresses. As the P. E. approached him, he 
clenched his hands behind him and around the limb 
of a tree by which he stood. The P. E. laid one 
arm around his neck and with the other hand loos- 
ed the hands of the rowdy, took him on his hip and 
started to go outside of the camp-ground. Mean- 
while W. commenced plying the heels of his bro- 
gands against the lower limbs of his antagonist. 
The P. E. did not intend to strike, or in any way 
harm him, but, seeing properto swing himself around 
with W. under his arm he let him go, and he hap- 
pened to fall with his head against the end of one 
of the logs upon which the seats rested. He lay 
there and trembled for a few moments, in a state of 
unconsciousness, but soon revived, and, as he arose, 



188 INDIANA METHODISM, 

an officer, who was passing by, arrested him and 
took him before the Justice of the peace, where he 
was fined five dollars. His rowdy friends made up 
a purse and paid the fine ; and united to organize a 
force for the purpose of an attack at night-fall on 
the worshipers in camp. In order to prevent fur- 
ther trouble, the writer, before night, mounted a 
boy on a horse and dispatched a note to the sheriff 
of the county, who arrived on the ground before the 
time set by the rowdies for the attack. Just as the 
P. E. had presumed it would be, the presence of the 
sheriff was all that was needed, to quiet the fellows 
of the baser sort, and no further disturbance occured. 
Many precious souls now in Heaven, and others on 
their way thither, date their conversion to that 
camp-meeting. It was a grand success. The grand- 
est revival, however, of that conference year, took 
place in the city of LaFayette, under the leadership 
of Rev. Thomas S. Webb, of precious memory, where 
over three hundred souls were brought to Christ. 
During the latter part of that year, a lot was pur- 
chased and the preliminary arrangements made for 
the organization of the society, and the building of 
a new house of worship, to be called the Eastern 
Charge, now Ninth Street. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

MOVES TO LAPORTE.— "OLD VIRGINIANS." 

In the fall of 1850 the conference was held at 
Cambridge City, Bishop Janes presiding. Here the 
writer was among his old friends and former 
parishioners, where he had labored two years, from 
1842 to 1844. Rev. Joseph Marsee had served four 
years as presiding elder (a full term) on the Craw- 
fordsville district; and Rev. John Daniel, for the 
same time, on the LaPorte district. The bishop felt 
that the easy and natural thing to do, was to ex- 
change these two brethern; but Brother Daniel pre- 
ferred to go into the station work rather than con- 
tinue as presiding elder. He was therefore ap- 
pointed to Fifth Street, LaFayette; and Brother 
Webb, to the Eastern charge. Brother Marsee, 
who was reared in Southern Kentucky, had a 
terrible dread of the LaPorte district, on account, 
as he said, of the Lake winds. This dread worked 
upon the good man until he became quite 
despondent at the idea of going to Northern 
Indiana. The people of LaFayette district, so far 
as known, expected that, as a matter of course, 
their P. E. would be returned for the' third, and 
most likely for the fourth year; but his sympathy 
was fully aroused as a young man for Brother 
Marsee, who was old and gray headed. And so in 
a private interview with the bishop, he said to him, 
"Bishop, if you think it wise or best I might sug- 
gest a plan which will relieve the case." "How is 



190 INDIANA METHODISM, 

that, Brother Smith?" the bishop asked eagerly. 
The answer was, "Give Brother Marsee my district, 
and I will go to LaPorte; for, I assure you, I am not 
afraid of that hyperborean region, as Brother 
Marsee thinks it is." The bishop responded, "That 
certainly is very kind, and I honor any young and 
strong man like yourself that is willing to give 
place and preference to an older brother, already 
beginning to show the infirmities of age. At the 
next meeting of the cabinet the bishop divulged to the 
presiding elders the new plan, at which Brother 
Marsee was deeply affected. He arose from his 
chair, came around, and with much emotion, spoke 
as follows : "Oh, Brother Smith, I always did love 
you, but I never loved you half so well as I do now; 
it was kind of you to be willing to go to LaPorte, 
opening the way for me to go to LaFayette, which 
is just as far north as I ever want to go." 

The work in the North for the year, 1850, stood 
as follows : 

LAPORTE DISTRICT. 
John L. Smith, Presiding Elder. 

Laporte, William Graham. 

Michigan City Mission, James C. Reed. 

Crown Point, Abraham Carey. 

Valparaiso, Franklin Taylor. 

Union,. Daniel F. Stright. 

Kingsbury Mission, Levi Moore. 

Byron, Nicholas E. Manville. 

Whitehall, Abraham Salisbury. 

South Bend, Elam S. Preston. 

Mishawaka, John R. Tansy. 

St. Joseph's Mission, Isaac Dean. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 191 

The town of LaPorte and a considerable portion 
of Door Prairie, in LaPorte county, was settled by- 
Virginians, most of whom, were from Lynchburg, 
or Campbell county. Among these was the dis- 
tinguished Old Virginia gentleman, Gustavus 
Adolphus Rose, M. D., his most excellent Christian 
wife and family. Two of the daughters were 
married respectively to James Walker and his 
brother Benjamin. David G. Rose, the eldest son, 
was at that time the wealthiest man in LaPorte 
county, and was married to a sister of the Walkers 
above mentioned. Adolphus Rose, junior, died, 
while a student at Asbury University, in Green- 
castle. Another son, Landon, became, as was his 
father, a distinguished physician. Another brother, 
Heber, who for some time was in college at Green- 
castle, received training in business as a merchant. 
For some years he was auditor of LaPorte county; 
he married a Miss Early of LaPorte — a cultured, 
Christian young lady, and some years after, removed 
and settled in Carthage, Mo. They were present 
during the commencement at DePauw university in 
June, 1891, where they had the pleasure of witness- 
ing the graduating exercises of their eldest daugh- 
ter, who had gone through the regular classical 
course, and who was said to be a very superior 
Latin scholar. Miss Early, afterwards Mrs. Rose, 
was a relative of the celebrated Rev. John Early, of 
Lynchburg, Virginia, who, after 1844, became a 
bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church , South. 
Dr. Rose, senior, was a great admirer of Rev. Mr. 
Early. During the year 185 1, the Doctor visited his 
old home at Lynchburg, renewing his former friend- 



I92 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ships among his old neighbors, and especially with 
Rev. Mr. Early. Soon after his return from Virginia to 
his home in LaPorte, he was taken sick and became 
quite reduced. During his sickness, the stationed 
preacher, Rev. William Graham, and the new pre- 
siding elder of the district, visited the venerable 
doctor. The sick man commenced speaking in very 
high terms of his old friend, Bishop Early, and, ad- 
dressing his callers, said, "Ah! gentlemen, he's a 
giant oak," when {he pastor, Brother Graham, not 
understanding the doctor distinctly, leaned forward, 
inquiring, "What did you say doctor, a giant ox?" 
The doctor, in a quaint, half-sarcastic way, answered, 
"O a-k, oak, sir. Elder, I presume you havn't had 
your dinner to-day as your mind seems to be run- 
ning on the meat question." 

Brother Tansy at Mishawaka that year, was 
blessed with a wonderful revival. Among those 
converted and brought, into the church was a Mrs. 
Pomroy, a member of the Protestant Episcopal 
church. She occupied a beautiful home, and, her 
husband being absent in California, she rented a 
part of her house to the Methodist pastor and his 
family. Her rector, learning that she had made a 
profession of religion among the methodists, called 
upon her, to inquire why she was attending the 
meetings of another church, saying, among other 
things, "I hope you will not disgrace yourself and 
the church in which >ou were born and confirmed 
by leaving and going into the Methodist church?" 
To all of which the good woman replied: "Mr. W., 
I have lived in this town for years; you have never 
called at our house till now; true, I was confirmed in 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 193 

the Episcopal church, but I have now realized that 
confirmation is not Scriptural conversion, since, 
among the Methodists, I have found pardon and 
peace, and become, in [the language of the New 
Testament, 'a new creature in Christ Jesus.' My 
arrangement is to give my hand to Brother Tansy 
and my name to the Methodist church; for since 
God has honored the Methodist people, and Metho- 
dist preaching, as instruments for my conversion, I 
I will honor God, and myself and family, by uniting 
with that church on next Sunday." She did so, and 
became an active worker; and in her changed life, 
and through her Christian example, accomplished 
great good, especially among the young people in 
the community. 

At the session of the conference at Cambridge 
City, South Bend was fixed upon as the pi xe of 
meeting in 185 I. Rev. Elam S. Pr ston, the pastor, 
was a good man, but, on accou it of physical weak- 
ness, was not able to accomplish all that needed to 
be done. The Methodists of the place then wor- 
shipped in a little weather-beaten, old frame 
church, in the north-west quarter of the town, 
which went by the name of "The Old Saw-mill." In 
view of the fact that the conference would hold its 
next session in South Bend, and for other good rea- 
sons the presiding elder determined to assist Brother 
Preston, by stirring up the pure minds of the people, 
to erect a new church for their own better accommo- 
dation and that of the next conference session. 
Among the leading people of the church at that 
time in South Bend were the Brownfields, the 
Samples, the Tutts, the Monsons, the Stovers, the 



194 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Lewises, the Greenes, the Wilmingtons, the Bakers, 
the Hackneys, and others equally worth}'. The 
presiding elder spent about two weeks with Brother 
Preston in working the matter up, and securing 
subscriptions. The trustees not yet consenting to 
build a church at all, but finally said that, while 
they were satisfied a church could not be built, yet, 
if the preacher and presiding elder would raise a 
good subscription of five thousand dollars, they 
would agree then to take hold and help what they 
could. The church was built. Rev. Dr. Lucien W. 
Berry, then president of the Indiana Asbury uni- 
versity, at the united request of preacher, presiding 
elder, and board of trustees, dedicated the new- 
brick structure on the Sabbath next preceding the 
opening of the conference session, and every dollar 
of the remaining debt was fully provided for. The 
present stately First Methodist church of South 
Bend, stands to-day on the same lot which the new 
church occupied. Through the efforts, and under 
the immediate supervision, of Rev. William Graham, 
a handsome brick church was also being erected at 
LaPorte, which, when finished, was the best church 
in the north. Since that time changes have been 
made, additions completed; and, through the ef- 
ficient labors of different pastors, from time to time, 
the LaPorte church has been isiucJi improved; but 
especially through the skillful management and 
perseverance of Rev. S. P. Colvin, it has been 
adorned and beautified within the last year or two, 
and now stands a commodious and handsome 
house of worship. 

The LaPorte district at that time embraced all 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 95 

the territory between the Kankakee river and Lake 
Michigan, reaching from near Bristol in the east to 
the Illinois line in the west. At the date refered 
to there was great excitement among the people of 
Ohio and Indiana on the one side and the people of 
Michigan on the other, concerning the State Line 
dividing the first two from the latter. The trouble 
between these States was over a strip of land six 
miles in width, the Michigan people contending 
that the strip belonged to their State, and the 
people of Ohio and Indiana fully satisfied that in 
this their Michigan friends were mistaken. The 
contest eventually grew so warm that many of the 
common people believed it would take a bloody war 
to settle the question. After the question was settled 
in favor of Ohio and Indiana an amusing incident 
occurred. At the quarterly meeting held by the 
presiding elder within the bounds of the disputed 
territory, he was invited to dine at a farm house 
during the meeting, and listened with no little 
interest as the good woman of the house rehearsed 
her troubles during the war of words between the 
Contending parties for the land. She closed the 
narration by telling the P. E. how happy she was 
when the question was finally settled; for, said she, 
"I tell you, elder, if, in settling that question, the 
line had been placed south of us, in which case we 
should have been left in the state of Michigan, I 
said to my husband, we wouldn't stay on this farm 
another day." "And why?' asked the elder with 
great animation. "Because," she said, "I have 
always hearn that Michigan was such a sickly State!" 



19$ INDIANA METHODISM, 



CHAPTER XIX. 

BISHOPS ELECTED— THE PEW QUESTION. 

The Conference was held in the new church at 
South Bend in 185 1, Bishop Thomas A. Morris pre- 
siding. At this conference the following persons 
were admitted on trial, viz : Benjamin Smith, 
Lucas Nebeker, David Dunham, Charles Ketcham, 
John O'Neal, Moses Mark, Nelson Gillam, Wiley P. 
Watkins, Nelson L. Brakeman, Jacob Pearce, John 
W. Welsh, Moses Wood, William E. Hines. Philip 
F. Millnor, James Black, Samuel Godfrey, Abram 
C. Barnhart, William T. Smith, Charles Jones, James 
Armstrong, William H. Metts, James Spinks, Will- 
iam Youngker, Evan Snyder, and Thomas Col- 
clazer. 

During the conference a circus show was held in 
the town and it was reported that one of the young 
men just admitted on trial, had attended the circus, 
and otherwise amused himself by playing marbles 
with the boys on the streets. Dr Henry C. Benson, 
now and for some years, of California, on the second 
or third da)- of the conference moved that the motion 
be reconsidered by which that young man was ad- 
mitted on trial. The presiding elder asked for time 
to see the young man and talk with him before the 
conference took action ; other brothers bee une im- 
patient and desired to act at once. And had the 
vote then been taken, it was very evident to the 
presiding elder that the young man alluded to, 
would have been then and there discontinued. At 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 197 

the earnest solicitation of the presiding elder the 
further consideration of the subject was postponed 
until the next day. 

The election of delegates to the General confer- 
ence, the dividing of the North Indiana Conference, 
setting off the west half of the territory to be called 
the Northwest Indiana Conference, and other press- 
ing and important subjects being brought forward for 
consideration, just as the presiding elder had hoped, 
the question of disposing of the young man was over- 
looked and forgotten. And at this writing (1892), 
of all the twenty-five persons then admitted on trial 
he is the only one now on the effective list in the 
Northwest Indiana conference. He has proved him- 
self to be one of the most logical, eccentric, and el- 
oquent men in the conference. And to-day, for ar- 
gument, quick perception, readiness in repartee, 
and dazzling oratory, is regarded as the peer of any 
man in any profession in the State of Indiana. 

At this conference Isaac M. Stagg was located 
for unacceptability. This was done by a simple 
vote of the conference without any formal trial. 
Brother Stagg's friends insisting that the action was 
contrary to the law of the church, the case was car- 
ried up to the General conference which met at Bos- 
ton in 1852, and was there reversed. See General 
Conference Journals, pages 18, ?7, 58. 

The conference at South Bend, by a large major- 
ity, decided in favor of dividing the conference as 
before alluded to above. It was accordingly done 
at the ensuing General conference. And the ar- 
rangements were made that the North Indiana 



198 INDIANA METHODISM, 

should meet in the city of Ft. Wayne ; Northwest 
Indiana, at Terre Haute. 

The election of delegates from the two conferences 
in Indiana, that year, resulted as follows :— Indiana 
conference : Mathew Simpson, William M. Daily, 
Edward R. Ames, James Havens, Elijah Whitten, 
and Lucian W. Berry ; North Indiana : George M. 
Beswick, William H. Goode, Samuel T. Gillett, John 
L. Smith, Joseph Marsee, and John Danniel. 

The General conference met in Bromfield-street 
church, in the city of Boston, on the first day of 
May, 1852. By the death of Bishop Hedding and 
the resignation of Bishop Hamline, there were but 
three Bishops remaining, viz., Waugh, Morris, and 
Janes. On the fourth day of the session a com- 
mittee was appointed to make suitable arrange- 
ments for Bishop Hedding's funeral, consisting of 
L. Clark, N. Bangs, D. Webb, A. Griffith, and J. 
Porter. Accordingly on May 13, Bishop Waugh, 
the then senior bishop, delivered the funeral dis- 
course in memory of Bishop Hedding ; which, by 
order of the General conference, was afterwards pub- 
lished by the book agents at New York. 

On the tenth day of the session, the superintend- 
ents presented a communication from Bishop Ham- 
line, tendering his resignation of the Episcopal of- 
fice, which was read ; also, a letter from his physi- 
cians, which was read. His parchment of ordination 
was also presented. These documents were referred 
to the committee on episcopacy ; and on the next 
day the committee made their report as follows : 

"Whereas it has pleased Almighty God deeply to 
afflict our beloved Bishop Hamline, and whereas he 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 1 99 

has been laid aside from active service thereby ; 
therefore, 

'''Resolved, I. That we sincerely sympathize with 
our beloved Superintendent in his affliction. 

"Resolved, 2. That, after having fully examined 
his administration for the last four years, his ad- 
ministration and character be, and hereby are, ap- 
proved. 

"Whereas, Bishop Hamline has tendered his res- 
ignation in the following language, to-wit :• — 'And 
now, I think that the circumstances warrant my de- 
clining the office. Eight years ago, I felt that Di- 
vine Providence had strangely called me to the of- 
fice. I now feel that the same Providence permits 
me to retire. I therefore tender my resignation, 
and request to be released from myofficial responsi- 
bilities, as soon as the way is prepared by the Epis- 
copal committee.' Therefore, 

"Resolved, 3. That the resignation of Bishop 
Hamline of his office as a Bishop of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in the United States of America, 
be, and the same hereby is, accepted. 

"All which is respectfully submitted, 

"P. P. Sanford, Chairman. 

"Boston, May n, 1852." 

We have always had a minority in our church 
and in the General conference, who adhere to the 
doctrine, "Once a bishop always a bishop." This 
view of the subject was, and it is believed, now is, 
the view maintained by at least a large majority of 
the ministers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South. Fortunately for the Methodist Episcopal 



200 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Church in the United States of America, Bishop 
Hamline despoiled the charm of that mischievous 
notion, and settled the question forever so far as 
the Methodist Episcopal church is concerned. All 
honor to Bishop Hamline, who not only broke that 
spell, but showed himself to be, in his resignation, 
perfectly consistent with the Rev. Dr. Leonides L. 
Hamline, in his great speech at the General confer- 
ence at New York in 1844. Albeit at least one of 
our bishops of later years, now deceased, held the 
doctrine that Methodist Episcopacy was in the reg- 
ular line of succession from Erasmus down to the 
present day. But the action of the General confer- 
ence in 1852, in accepting the resignation of the 
good bishop, clearly defined the position of the 
church. When the yeas and nays of that body 
were called, it was found that there were 161 in fa- 
vor of accepting the resignation, and ten opposed 
to its acceptance. And it is now believed, that 
the number of the minority party, during the last 
forty years, has been growing beautifully less by de- 
grees; and it is to be hoped that, in the not distant 
future, the sentiment, "once a bishop, always a 
bishop," will be numbered with the figments of the 
dark ages, or relegated to the sea of oblivion. In 
this connection it may be added that this writer is 
fully convinced that there is a growing sentiment, 
in the church, not only opposed to everything that 
looks in the direction of the establishing of 
an heirarchy in Methodism, but, on the con- 
trary, in favor of such changes in the present 
status of the episcopacy as will bring it into har- 
mony with the otherwise systematic, and symmetri- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 201 

cal polity of Methodism; so as to put the office of 
bishop in a relation of harmony with all other po- 
sitions elective by the General conference quad- 
rennially. Indeed many of the preachers, and not 
a few of the people, believe that, when a bishop 
through age, or otherwise, is no longer effective, he 
should drop back as a superannuated member of an 
Annual conference; and that he and his family, in 
their support, should prorate with other worn-out 
preachers, widows and orphans, just as he would do, 
had he never been a bishop. Methodist episcopacy 
is an office, as the presiding eldership is an office; 
and why should it be considered any more disreput- 
able for the worn-out bishop to become a super- 
annuated member of an Annual conference than for 
the presiding elder ? 

During the General conference in Boston in 1852, 
one of the leading questions brought before that 
body, — a question of absorbing interest, — was that 
of the introduction of instrumental music, family 
sittings, and pews into our churches. New Eng- 
land was arrayed on one side in favor of pews, fam- 
ily sittings and instrumental music in the churches, 
the South was solid in opposition; while many in the 
middle States were also bitterly opposed to what was 
regarded as a most mischievous innovation. Rev. 
John S Inskip, who had partially introduced that 
innovation into his congregation at Dayton, Ohio, 
was censured by a committee; and he appealed to 
the General conference. The delegations from 
Indiana — rather mild mannered men — were not 
disposed to great activity on either side of the 
question. Strange as it may seem to many at 



202 INDIANA METHODISM, 

the present day, this question entered largely into 
the matter of the election of bishops. The name of 
Mathew Simpson, from the beginning of the con- 
ference, was frequently and favorably men- 
tioned in connection with the episcopacy, and 
there seemed to be a studied effort to have him 
commit himself one way or the other on the pew 
question. While the discussion was going on in 
reference to the erecting of a metropolitan church 
at Washington, D. C, Dr. Simpson took the floor, 
delivering a handsome and impressive speech 
winding up his remarks in something like 
the following manner : "Mr. President, I would be 
glad to see a church in Washington City, a repre- 
sentative church of our beloved Methodism, where 
the people from the North and from the South, 
from the East and from the West, might gather and 
hear the gospel of the Son of God. I think that, 
that building in all its appointments, in archi- 
tectural taste, in beauty of finish, and in all other 
respects should be a model. It ought to be at least 
equal to this beautiful church in which we are 
gathered, and I would be satisfied if it should be 
such a beautiful temple and in all respects equal to 
this magnificent structure." Then closing, in his 
impassioned style, in these words, pointing to the 
pews: "Save these bonds." 

During the session of the conference, George M. 
Beswick and J. L. Smith did themselves a pleasure 
by visiting Old Plymouth, where the Pilgrims 
landed in 1620, and spent a Sabbath with the good 
people of that ancient city. Mr. Smith preached 
in the morning and Brother Beswick exhorted. At 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 20$ 

night B. preached and S. exhorted. Towards the 
close of the exhortation, the choir in the end gal- 
lery commenced tuning up their bass-fiddles and 
their violins, getting ready for the closing of the 
services. The exhorter seeing this, and growing, 
somewhat warm in his talk, walked down out of the 
high pulpit, and noticing on his right hand a. 
Christian woman apparently under deep emotion^ 
said : "Sister, it is reported out West, that if any 
one down East were to get so happy in the Lord as; 
to shout his praises, that such person would likely 
be put into a straight-jacket and sent to the lunatic 
asylum." By the time these words were spoken the 
good woman was audibly praising the Lord, and was. 
immediately answered back by a brother on the left ? , 
when the exhorter struck up the old tune of Greenfield,, 
singing the words of John Newton, commencing^ 
"How tedious and tasteless the hour." The choir, 
be it spoken to their credit, laid down the "fiddle 
and the bow," and sang lustily with the congrega- 
tion the time-honored hymn. At the close of this 
service a very remarkable incident occurred. The 
writer was approached by a tall, spare man with 
unshaven face, his pendant beard more than a foot 
in length. It was very uncommon in those days to 
see a man of respectability in society, wearing a 
long beard. And when the stranger said to the 
writer "I want you to go home with me," the latter 
stood, not exactly knowing in what manner to re- 
ply to this invitation; when the stranger, observing 
his hesitation, said : "I am a sailor and my wife 
here," pointing to a woman at his side, "is a good 
Christian, but I am a poor miserable lost sinner."' 



204 INDIANA METHODISM, 

To this, answer was made, — "If you are a sailor, I 
will go home with you " On reaching the sailor's 
humble home, he opening a door of a closet brought 
out about a peck of beautiful sea-sheels, remarking: 
"These I gathered on the coast of Chili and I wish 
to give them to you." To which the recipient re- 
plied, "My dear sir, I thank you most kindly." He 
then stepped into another room and brought out a 
very handsome walking cane, remarking: "Our 
ship was once becalmed at Cape Horn for about six 
weeks. There was not enough wind to flap a sail. 
This cane I made from a whale's jaw-bone, and the 
head of the cane out of a wha'e's tusk; and, as you 
see, it is carved in what we sailors call a double 
walled-knot. I had no tools to work with but a 
jack-knife and pieces of broken glass, and I want 
you, with the shells, to accept the cane also as a 
present." The writer deeply impressed "by the 
kindly spirit o( the man, responded, "My friend, 
you overwhelm me, and I know not how to recom- 
pense you for your generosity to one whom you 
never met until to-night." "Yes," said the sailor, by 
this time much agitated, "you can, and all I ask of 
you is to pray for me." These last words were 
spoken in a tremulous voice, with the tears rolling 
down his cheeks, and with which his good wife was 
manifestly in perfect sympathy. "Well," said the 
writer, "My friend, there will never be a better 
time to pray than now," and suiting the action to 
the word, went down on his knees with this man 
and his wife, where they together wrestled with the 
Lord in earnest prayer. After which a hymn was 
sung and earnest words of encouragement spoken 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 20$ 

to the sailor and his wife. The parting 

came, since which time no word has been heard 
from the sailor and his wife; but the Indiana dele- 
gate confidently expects to meet them around the 
"great white throne." 

On Monday morning, after viewing Plymouth 
Rock and securing a specimen, the visitors took a 
stroll through the ancient burying ground ; where 
many of the tomb-stones were rude specimens,, 
gathered up from the adjacent forest, with no marks 
of the stone-mason's chisel upon them excepting 
the rough lettering of name, date of birth, and death 
of the departed. One of these stones especially at- 
tracted the attention of the visitors. It was in 
memory of a Christian women, a wife and mother ; 
and after giving the ordinary dates, were roughly 
chiseled these words : "SHE made home happy." 
In the afternoon of that Monday, the wandering 
delegates returned to Boston, the seat of the Gen- 
eral conference. 

On the 25th day of the session of the conference, 
the election of four bishops having been made the 
order of the day, Henry Slicer, G. W. Walker and 
C. K. True were appointed tellers, and the result of 
the first ballot was thus announced : Levi Scott, 
Mathew Simpson, Osman C. Baker, and Edward R. 
Ames, having received a majority of all the votes, 
are duly elected bishops of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

Bishop Simpson and his good wife, had private 
apartments at the hotel, and in the evening of the 
day of the election, the bishop elect, invited a few 
select friends to take tea with Mrs. Simpson and 



206 INDIANA METHODISM, 

himself. This writer was one of the invited 
guests. At the tea-table, after mutual congratula- 
tions, the bishop said : "This day has the words of 
the prophet been fulfilled." "Which" (eagerly inquir- 
ed half a dozen or more of the guests,) "is the 
prophet referred to ?" "No other than Brother 
John L. Smith," replied the bishop. He proceeded 
to relate an incident which the writer had entirely 
forgotten, saying: "In 1846, after the close of our 
college commencement, Brother Smith and I took 
a stroll in the forest near Greencastle. Seated on the 
blue-grass, in the shade of a large tree, and taking a 
good rest,we indulged in a free talk over the matters 
which had transpired, both in the meetings of the 
board oftrustees and the graduating exercises. Broth- 
er Smith spoke out and said : 'The spirit of prophecy 
has come upon me.' 'I answered "Son of man 
prophecy.' " He then proceeded as follows, — 'Two 
years hence you will be a member of the General 
conference which is to meet in Pittsburg, Pa. In 
1852 you will lead the delegation of the Indiana 
conference ; and at that conference from two to 
four bishops will be elected, and Mathew Simpson will 
be one of that number ; and so, Brother S. continu- 
ed, 'I expect to live to see the day when I shall no 
longer address you as Dr. Simpson, or President 
Simpson, but I shall then address you as Bishop 
Simpson, claiming also, in our private relation and 
sacred friendship, still to say, Brother Simpson.'" 
As Bishop Simpson was one of the best of men, as 
well as one of the ablest bishops that ever blessed 
the Methodist church, so also, in the estimation of 
t he writer of these pages, he stood, in his deep de- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 207 

votion, burning eloquence, and sublime pathos, 
next to the Apostle Paul as a gospel preacher. 

At this General conference provision was made 
for establishing a church paper in the city of Chica- 
go. James V. Watson was elected editor of the new 
paper with J. L. Smith a member of the publishing 
committee. 

After the close of the conference, and on the re- 
turn of the North Indiana delegates, a serious rail- 
road accident occured. At about half past twelve 
o'clock at right, some miscreant having broken a 
switch-lock, the train was run into a gravel bank. 
The fireman and engineer were killed, yet few of 
the passengers were hurt. 

A little before the accident, when almost all the 
passengers seemed sound asleep, excepting two 
persons, one of whom was a very intelligent woman, 
who showed herself to be a very decided Calvanist in 
doctrine, the other was the writer. In the course 
of the conversation she maintained, among other 
things, that her doctrine was greatly superior to the 
doctrine as taught by Methodist preachers. "For in- 
stance," said she, "you people are always uneasy more 
or less for fear of an accident, as you call it, will hap- 
pen." "Now with me," she continued, "there are no 
accidents, for if it is decreed that I am to die in my 
bed at home, that decree can't be changed ; or.iflam 
to be drownded, or killed in a railroad accident, the 
matter is all fixed and I give myself no concern 
about it ; for I feel just as safe this moment, on this 
car, as I would feel sitting in a rocking chair at 
home in my own parlor." Just at that moment the 
car in which the disputants were seated, fell over on 



208 INDIANA METHODISM, 

its side. The lights (then m ide of lard oil) were all 
out in a moment, but there seemed to be no confu- 
sion in the car ; nobody screamed, but, as the writer 
went forward to open the car door and found it 
difficult to open, the Calvinistic lady became nervous, 
saying, "Let me out of here ! open the door and 
let me out of here ! !" The preacher, with whom she 
had been conversing, said to her, in as quiet a way 
as possible, "Madam, are you not just as safe here 
as you would be seated in your rocking chair at 
home in your own parlor ?" to which she answered 
excitedly, "I say, let me out of here !" "But," re- 
sponded the other, "can you not trust the Lord ?" 
"Yes, yes, " said she, "I can trust the Lord, but I 
can trust the Lord better out of here than I can 
inside ; let me out !" This little episode, even at 
that critical moment, excited a good deal of amuse- 
ment among those who heard the earnest words of 
the good woman. 

Looking back for a moment to Boston, and to 
the discussion of the pew question, this writer, 
though reared in the strictest sect of old-fashioned 
Methodism, had, before leaving for the General con- 
ference, through a singular incident at a quarterly 
meeting, at a certain town in his district, been 
wonderfully toned down, not to say radically chang- 
ed, and brought out from under his deep prejudices 
against pews, instrumental music, etc., in churches ; 
so that, during the discussion in the General con- 
ference, he felt very little interested. This change 
in his feelings, was brought about in the following 
manner : Mishawaka, four miles from South Bend, 
and like the latter, situated on the left bank of the 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 200, 

St. Joseph River, was settled mainly by people from 
New England, and it was frequently called the 
Yankee town of the North. The good people of 
that place had recently thoroughly repaired the 
church, refitted and numbered the pews, selling them 
out at public auction ; they had alsoorganized a choir, 
put an organ in the church, and in all particulars 
made it as nearly as possible to correspond with the 
houses of worship among the Methodists in their 
native New England. The presiding elder, though 
he had not committed himself to any person by say- 
ing he would not preach in a Methodist church 
where the pews were sold, and choir and instrumen- 
tal music introduced, had within himself determined 
that he would not and could not conscientiously 
ever contenance such an innovation with his official 
sanction as presiding elder. There lived at the time 
alluded to, in the town of Mishawaka, a sister Grif- 
fin, who was noted far and near as a devoted, cul- 
tured, and highly intellectual Christian woman. 

The quarterly meeting came on, occupying a Sat- 
urday and Sunday, On Saturday morning the pre- 
siding elder preached, but the choir was not present, 
nor was the organ used ; and so it was again on Sat- 
urday evening at the public services. The love- 
feast was held at nine o'clock on Sunday morning, 
conducted by the pastor, while the presiding elder 
sat in the pulpit, in deep thought, communing with 
his own soul, as to what course he should persue at 
the public services at half past ten o'clock. Should 
he denounce the selling or renting of pews in the 
Methodist church ? Should he deliberately forbid 
the use of the instrument and the singing by the 



2 10 INDIANA iMETHODISM, 

choir ? Or what should he do in this dilemma ? The 
spiritual thermometer was rapidly rising in the love- 
feast, and almost all, including the elder, was partic- 
ipating in the enjoyment of the blessed spirit that 
seemsd to pervade the beauti r ully refitted church. 
At that moment the good woman, Sister Griffin, arose 
to speak, in the use of the following words : "Oh, 
Brethern and Sisters, even my visions of the past 
night overpower my soul with the sense of the good- 
ness of God. I thought over with deepest gratitude 
what he was doing for us in Mishawaka, — that now 
we had a place to worship which would be a stand- 
ing reminder of our childhood church-home ; but, 
my joys were doubly great, if possible, this morn- 
ing, when, for the first time the peals of our church 
bell rang out the sweet invitation to us all to come 
to the house of the Lord and bear witness to his 
goodness ; and when I remember, that now, for the 
first time after so many years in this new country, 
we should have the unspeakable pleasure of listen- 
ing to an organized choir, and the sweet tones of the 
organ ; and, the grandest of all, in a church where 
each family has its own pew, bought and paid for, 
and where we can go with the husband at one end 
of the pew and the wife and mother at the other, 
with their dear little ones sitting between them ; 
then, overcome with God's goodness and with the 
spirit of gratitude, more than I can tell, I said to 
my husband in the presence of my children, 'Oh 
pray and thank the Lord that we have lived to see 
the day, when, in the wilds of the Western country 
we can once more enjoy the beauties and blessings 
of old-fashioned Methodism." ' The presiding eldtr, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 211 

in his musings repeated to himself her closing- 
phrase, "old fashioned Methodism," and asked him- 
self, "What is old-fashioned Methodism to me ?" to 
which he answered, "It is a simple frame church in 
Old Virginia, innocent of paint inside and out, a high 
box pulpit, slab benches without backs, — the men 
with round-breasted coats and broad-brimmed hats — 
the women in very plain, though neat, attire, with 
plain black silk bonnets, — the preacher lining out 
the hymn, and as soon as through with his sermon, 
coming down out of the pulpit, with class-book and 
pencil in hand, calling the names of the members 
froirrthe list, speaking to each member of the class 
present, marking the absentees, and finally winding 
up with shouts and halleluiahs." "With me what is 
'old-fashioned Methodism' in the West ? It is preach- 
ing in cabins, on puncheon floors, with a split-bot- 
tom chair in front of the preacher, upon the top 
round of which he rested the family bible until afcer 
reading his text, closing the book, and laying it down 
on the chair, preaching his sermon, meeting the 
class, and off again on horse-back to his next ap- 
pointment. But what is 'o'.d-fashioned Methodism' 
to Sister Griffin ? It is a neat and handsomely 
painted house of worship, surmounted with steeple 
and bell, a quartette choir, a high-sounding organ, 
pews sold out or rented, together with family sit- 
tings. Now the question is, How is this matter to 
be settled ? Shall I, taking counsel of my early ed- 
ucation and prejudices in this behalf, raise a storm, 
and perhaps break up the church in Mishawaka, in 
order to carry out my notions of 'old-fashioned 
Methodism ?' or, shall I gracefully yield to good 



212 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Sister Griffin and the other good people ?" Follow- 
ing the dictates of his better judgment, as he has 
always believed, under the leadings of the Spirit, no 
vestige of the foolish and unfounded prejudice of his 
early life, has governed him for a moment. And 
so it is not so remarkable that he felt little concerned 
at General conference in the animated and heated 
discussion upon the pew question. 

To close this chapter, one other instance touch- 
ing the General conference in Boston may be given. 
The Unitarians in that city had erected a magnifi- 
cent church on Hanover Street, — costing some sev- 
enty-five to ninety thousand dollars, and had 
mounted near the top of the spire, a huge gilded 
chanticleer. Finding their people unable to pay for 
the church, it was sold to the Methodist people for 
about forty thousand dollars. On a Sunday after- 
noon, during the session of the General conference, a 
sacramental service appointed in that church was 
largely attended both by ministers and people. 
Walking down to the church in company with a 
clerical-looking gentleman, and supposing he was a 
Methodist preacher, and also a resident of the city, 
this writer inquired of the brother, ''What do you 
suppose was the object or purpose of putting that 
big rooster up so high that everybody could see it ?' 
then, not waiting for the gentleman to answer the 
question, the inquirer himself answered — "Oh, I just 
this moment think how it was ; the architect, who 
must have been an orthodox Christian, put it there 
I presume in order to remind the Unitarians that, 
like Peter, they had denied their Lord," little think- 
ing while indulging in these remarks, that. as he after- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 213 

wards learned, he was not only conversing with a 
Unitarian preacher, but with the identical man who 
had been the settled pastor in that church before it 
was sold to the Methodists. 



CHAPTER XX. 

CARTRIGHT, FINLEY, COOPER, 

Organization of the Northwest Indiana Confer- 
ence, 1852, at Terre Haute, Ind., Bishop Osman C. 
Baker presiding. 

The conference began on the eighth day of Sep- 
tember. The month of September was dry and 
warm ; yet our new bishop, having heard such hor- 
rible stories about Wabash chills and fevers, had 
provided himself with heavy overshoes, the better 
to protect himself against the sickly climate of the 
then far West. He presided in a very graceful, 
dignified, and agreeable way, and soon won the 
hearts of the conference. Lest over-exertion should 
bring on mortal sickness, he declined to occupy the 
pulpit on the Sabbath. Consulting the members of 
his cabinet he inquired who among the preachers 
he had better request to do the preaching at the 
morning and evening services ; and so Lucien W. 
Berry was chosen to preach at 10:30 in the morn- 
ing, the ordination of deacons following ; in the 
afternoon, Richard Hargrave, his sermon to be fol- 
lowed by the ordination of elders. While listening 



214 INDIANA METHODISM, 

to these good, grand men, the bishop seemed ut- 
terly astonished ; afterwards, with apparent wonder, 
he said, "I never heard such preaching before, I 
had no idea that there were such men out here in 
Indiana." 

In the division of the State into four Annual con- 
ferences, the city of Indianapolis was about equally 
divided into four parts ; the north-west quarter fall- 
ing to the Northwest Indiana conference. In that 
quarter of the city there was a little frame church 
standing on the bank of the canal, which bore the 
name of the celebrated Rev. John Strange-"Strange 
Chapel." Brother George M. Boyd was taken from 
the Crawfordsville district and appointed to Indian- 
apolis ; his brethren believing, and the bishop also, 
that he would be equal to the occasion of building 
up the church interests in that quarter of the city. 
Right royally did he meet the expectations of his 
friends. 

The little church was moved from the canal to a 
more central location, the society reorganized, the 
church edifice enlarged and beautified, and it was 
altogether a prosperous year. But, before proceed- 
ing further, it may be a matter of interest, especial- 
ly to the younger preachers and those who are to 
come after them, to have some knowledge of the 
men and their appointments at the beginning of 
the history of the Northwest Indiana Conference. 

"Where are the preachers stationed this year ?" 

GREENCASTLE DISTRICT. 

Richard Hargrave, Presiding Elder ; Greencastle, 
Thomas S. Webb ; Bainbridge, John Edwards, one 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 2IJ 

to be supplied ; Montgomery, James B. Gray ; Rock- 
ville circuit, William J. Forbes, Lewis Roberts ; 
Russelville, George W. Warner ; North Salem? 
Mathew Fennimore ; Danville, Michael Johnson ; 
Augusta, Harrison Burgess, one to be supplied ; In- 
dianapolis Mission, George M. Boyd ; Ladoga, Jared 
B. Mershon ; Middletown, Joseph White ; Indiana 
Asbury University, William C. Larrabee, Profess- 
or, Daniel DeMotte, Agent. 

TERRE HAUTE DISTRICT. 

John H. Bruce. Presiding Elder ; Terre Haute — 
: Asbury Chapel, Aaron Wood, :North Chapel, 
Thomas Bartlett ; Numa, Enoch Wood;Vigo, James 
Scott ; Clinton, John Leach ; Newport, Abraham 
Salisbury ; Eugene, James Rickets ; Perrysville, 
Wade Posey ; Williamsport, Moses Wood ; Coal 
Creek, John T. Jones ; Anapolis, Nelson Green; 
Rockville, James L. Thompson ; Terre Haute High 
School, Allen D. Beasley, Agent. 

LAFAYETTE DISTRICT. 

George M. Beswick, Presiding Elder; LaFayette — 
Western Charge, Jacob M. Stallard, Eastern Charge, 
Luther Taylor ; Thorntown, James Spinks ; Leba- 
non, Edward A. Hazen ; Romney, Allen A. Gee, 
Philander Wiley; Newtown Wm. F. Wheeler, Heze- 
kiah Smith ; Shawnee Prairie, Jacob Cozad ; Cov- 
ington, Ithamar H. Aldrich ; Crawfordsville, James 
Johnson ; Attica, Benj. Winans ; Independence, 
John W. Parrett ; Poolsville, Franklin Taylor ; Ox- 
ford, Thomas C. Workman. 

DELPHI DISTRICT. 

Joseph Marsee, Presiding Elder ; Delphi and Pitts- 



2l6 INDIANA METHODISM, 

burg, William Graham ; Dayton, Win. C. Harker ; 
Frankfort, Philip I. Beswick, Jessie Hill ; Camden, 
David Reeder; Rossville, Hermon B. Ball; Lockport, 
David Dunham ; Monticello, Lucas Nebeker ; Har- 
risonville, George Guild; Rensselaer, Wm. Hamilton; 
Davidsonville, Alford N. Cave ; Kewana, Eventus 
■Doud ; Winemac, Francis Cox. 

LAPORTE DISTRICT. 

John L. Smith, Presiding Elder ; LaPorte, to be 
supplied ; Michigan City, to be supplied ; Crown 
Point, Conrad S. Burgner, one to be supplied ; Val- 
paraiso Station, David Crawford ; Valparaiso Cir~ 
cuit, Lyman B. Kent, Nelson L. Brakeman ; Union, 
John S. Donaldson, Samuel Godfrey ; Kingsbury, 
Wiley P. Watkins; Byron, Levi More, one to be sup- 
plied ; Sumption Prairie, Arthur Badley ; South 
Bend, James C. Read ; Rochester, Robert H. Cal- 
vert; Plymouth, John G. Osborne ; Samuel T. Coop- 
er, John S. Hetfield, Francis M. Richmond, and 
Franklin A. Hardin, transferred to the North India- 
na Conference ; John C. Smith, transferred to the 
Indiana Conference ; John Daniel, transferred to the 
California Conference ; Abram Cary, transferred to 
the Iowa Conference ; Isaac M. Stagg, transferred 
to the Missouri Conference. 

Bishop Baker also presided at the North Indiana 
conference held at Fort Wayne, Indiana, two weeks 
after the Northwest Indiana conference, when the 
following transfers took place : John R. Tansey 
and Joseph C. Reed, to the Northwest Indiana con- 
ference, and stationed respectively at LaPorte and 
Michigan City. The Southeast Indiana confer- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 2 1/ 

ence, also organized by Bishop Baker, was held in 
the town of Rushville, commencing October 6, 
1852, when the following transfers took place : 
James Hill, Elias H. Sabin, Bartlett Y. Coffin, and 
Elias Gaskins to the Indiana conference; John B. 
DeMotte, to the North Indiana conference, and 
stationed at Muncytown. And so the State of 
Indiana was organized into four Annual conferences, 
and has thus continued nearly forty years. 

The Northwest Indiana Conference as one man, 
looked forward with joy and delight to 
the advent of their own Bishop Ames, 
who presided at the session held in 
the autumn of 1853 at Attica, Indiana. At this session 
some interesting as well as exciting scenes occurred. 
A superannuated preacher, A. B., who lived in the 
village, was charged with cruel treatment of his 
wife. He was an active member of the Masonic 
order. Among the preachers of the conference 
there were some zealous masons, and others who 
were bitterly opposed to all secret societies. In 
the appointment of the committee to investigate 
these rumors against the brother, the anti-secret- 
society men felt that they had done a very smart 
thing by managing to have only members of the 
order appointed on the committee, thinking, and 
even saying to their friends "Now you will see 
how in their report the committee will 'whitewash' 
their brother mason; for the masons are bound to 
protect one another, 'murder and treason not ex- 
cepted.'" The committee investigated the matter 
and reported that in their judgment the rumors 
could be sustained by proof, and so moved that 



2l8 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Brother A. B. be put on his trial before the conference 
for immoral conduct, which was done. The accused 
was duly tried, his principal prosecutors being ma- 
sons, and, by the verdict of his peers, was expelled 
from the conference and the church. 

Another incident. Charges were brought against 
a young preacher for breach of marriage 
contract. And he was hotly pressed by the 
preacher-in -charge with whom he had traveled a 
circuit the preceding year. In this trial it was 
brought out that the young man had entered into a 
marriage engagement in good faith; and that a few 
months afterwards the young woman became what 
was called a spiritual medium. In some of her frantic 
movements as a medium she seemed to become totally 
deranged; so the young brother frankly told her 
that, if she continued these vagaries, he would at all 
hazards, break the engagement, and that she could 
never be his wife. She persisted in keeping up the 
spirit-rappings, and seemed to be fond of the noto- 
riety she was gaining as a spirit medium. While 
the trial was going on it came to the surface, as had 
been suspected, that several of the older members 
of the conference, who were looked upon as grave 
elders, had been more or less tinctured with this 
delusion; for they seemed to bear down heavily on 
W. P. W., while their sympathies were evidently in 
favor of what they regarded as the injured girl. 
Finally by a close vote this pious and honest young 
preacher was saved to the church. He lived for 
many years, and was a successful soul- winner; he 
died only a few years ago, and doubtless has many 
stars in the crown of his rejoicing in the better world. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 219 

At that same conference another incident occurred, 
not so serious as the former, but, contrarywise, 
very amusing. There lived and moved up and 
down the Wabash river at that time a semi- 
demented lawyer commonly know as Jack Stinson. 
He had been an intelligent and successful attorney, 
but by some means became partially deranged. 
He dressed very neat, and, though he often seemed 
incoherent in his conversation, was, nevertheless 
polite and gentlemanly. On a certain occasion 
during the session, and in the midst of conference 
business, Jack strode up the aisle, hat in hand, and 
approaching the bishop's table, complaisantly bowing, 
placed on the table in front of the bishop a paper, 
and then bowing himself out, quietly retired. The 
bishop was noticed, while reading the paper, to be 
evidently amused. The following is a verbatim 
copy of the letter: 

"Attica, Fountain Co., Ind., Sept. 9, 1853. 
Right Rev. and Dear Sir :— My name is Jack 
Stinson, alias, Colonel John Stephenson, of the 
United States army, I was born in Louden county, 
Virginia, on the 29th day of March 1793, but being 
very young at the time of my birth, I now have no 
distinct recollection of that very important affair. 
I have the honor and proud distinction to be your 
most obedient and humble servant, 

Jack Stinson, 
alias Colonel John Stephenson, 

Of the United States Army." 

The preachers gathered around the bishop after 
adjournment that morning, all curious to see the 



220 INDIANA METHODISM, 

letter Jack had written. After reading it to those 
n^ar, the bishop said he would perserve this singu- 
lar billet as a literary curiosity, to descend to his 
grand-children. 

At the close of that conference the following 
transfers were made : John R. Tansey and E. H. 
Hazen to the California conference; Nelson Greene 
to the North Indiana conference; Enoch Wood, 
to the Iowa conference. 

On the 6th day of September, 1854, the confer- 
ence met at LaPorte, and Bishop Simp- 
son, another of our Indiana bishops, for 
the first time presided over the Northwest 
Indiana conference. At this conference fourteen 
were received on trial, viz: Noah Lathrop, Philan- 
der R. Owen, George W. Crawford, G. W. Good- 
win, Jacob Haun, Albion Fellows, Lemuel G. 
Welton, Abraham Davis,* Charles A. Brook, Lan- 
don Carson, Daniel Shonkwiler, William Hancock, 
J. F. Goodman, Elisha Adamson. 

"Question 12. Who have died this year ? Answer: 
George M. Beswick and John H. Bruce." 

These two noble men, both presiding elders, falling 
at their posts at the high noon of their manhood 
and in the midst of their usefulness, brought a shad- 
ow over the hearts of the entire conference. This 
was the first death knell heard since the organiza- 
tion of the conference. The following record of the 
lives and labors of these men of God was unani- 
mously adopted : — 

"Rev. George M. Beswick was born in the State of 

* Died during conference. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 22 i 

Kentucky, October n, 1811. His father left 
Kentucky in 1815, and settled with his fam- 
ily in Harrison county, Indiana. Philip Bes- 
wick, father of the deceased, was a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a firm 
and intelligent Christian. Possessing a good 
library of religious books, and his house be- 
ing a home for the ministers of the church of his 
choice, George was early impressed with the truth 
and necessity of religion. He was converted in the 
fourteenth year of his age, and immediately united 
with the Methodist Episcopal church. He was li- 
censed to exhort in his sixteenth and to preach, in 
the eighteenth year of his age. At the age of twenty 
he was admitted on trial in the Indiana conference, 
and appointed to Salem circuit. From 183 1 to 1838 
he traveled circuits in different parts of the State. 
In the fall of 1838 he was appointed to the Logans- 
port district. Since that he has traveled Greencas- 
tle, Centreville, and LaFayette districts, and has 
filled some of the most important stations in the 
State, and has served the church in the capacity of 
an agent for the Tract and Sabbath- school cause, 
and for the university. He was elected a delegate 
to the General conference of 1852. After an absence 
of eight years, he was appointed the second time to 
Greencastle district at the last session of the North- 
west Indiana conference. He was at his work in 
due time, and labored with his usual faithfulness 
until he had nearly completed his third round on 
the district, when he was attacked with a malig- 
nant typhoid fever, and laid his armour by to resume 
it no more. His brain became involved at an early 



222 INDIANA METHODISM, 

period of the attack, and consequently he was much 
of the time delirious. He experienced lucid inter- 
vals, however, which were improved in rejoicing, 
exhorting his friends, and comforting his family. 
The subjects which employed his thoughts in health 
were his theme in sickness. Even in his delirium, 
his incoherent sentences gave evidence of the pur- 
ity of his heart, and the chastity of his life and con- 
versation. In Brother Beswick the virtues which 
constitute the Christian gentleman were most har- 
moniously blended. He was firm and decided, yet 
persuasive and respectful. As a husband and father, 
he was a model ; as a minister, he was talented. He 
was a bold, original thinker, always ready to attack 
sin in high or low places. His motto in preaching 
was to fear God and do right, no matter what the 
consequences might be ; and to this motto he ad- 
hered most tenaciously to the end of his life. But 
he is gone ; and with sincere emotions of grief we 
bid him adieu, till we meet on Mount Zion to make 
the final report of our ministry to the great Shep- 
herd and Bishop of souls." 

"Rev. John H. Bruce was born in Montgomery 
county, Virginia, February 2, 1817; soon after 
which his father with his family emigrated to the 
State of Ohio, and settled in Miami county. Here 
his house became the home of the itinerant Metho- 
dist preachers as they traveled their circuits; and 
under their instructions, combined with the pious 
example of Christian parents, John became versed 
in the doctrines and practical workings of Method- 
ism which characterized his subsequent actions. 

At the age of fifteen he sought and obtained re- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 223 

ligion at a camp meeting held at Spring creek, un- 
der the supervision of Rev. Levi White. He soon 
after this received license to exhort, and on the 13th of 
June, 1835, he was licensed to preach by the 
Quarterly-meeting conference of Sidney circuit, 
Ohio conference. He labored as a local preacher 
about sixteen months. In the fall of 1836 he was 
admitted on trial in the Indiana conference, and ap- 
pointed to Rockville circuit; after which he traveled 
Monticello, Marion, Winchester, Newcastle, and 
Milroy circuits. In 1842 he was appointed to 
Centreville station; the next year to South Bend; 
the following year to Mishawaka; and the following 
year to Goshen circuit. In 1847 he was appointed 
to the agency of Fort Wayne Female College, 
which office he filled for one year. He was then 
sent to LaGrange circuit; and from 1849 to ^52 he 
traveled Logansport district as presiding elder. In 
the fall of 1852 he was appointed to Terre Haute 
district, where he continued to labor efficiently un- 
til the great Head of the Church, as we trust, 
transfered him to the Church triumphant. As a 
presiding officer brother Bruce was manly, courte- 
ous, and dignified. As a theologian, he was sound 
and clear. As a preacher, zealous and pathetic. 
As a husband and father, he was affectionate and 
kind; and we may safely say that those who knew 
him best loved him most. He was permitted to 
close his life at home in the bosom of his family. 
His death occurred on the 23rd day of August, 1854. 
After calling his children around him, and conferring 
a father's blessing on them, he exhorted his weep- 
ing companion not to weep, but to trust in Him who 



224 INDIANA METHODISM, 

is the widow's God, and has promised to be a father 
to the fatherless. It is supposed that he came to his 
death from the effects of having been thrown from 
his carriage, caused by a fright of his horses. 

The stroke which cut him down in the midst of a 
career of usefulness, falls heavily upon us as a con- 
ference; but we meekly bow, with the full convic- 
tion that our loss is his eternal gain. May the 
Lord bless, and take care of, his bereaved widow 
and children." 

At the close of this conference, the writer, with 
reluctance left his many friends in the North, for 
his next field of labor. The following is a partial 
record of the appointments : 

INDIANAPOLIS DISTRICT. 

J. L. Smith, Presiding Elder; Indianapolis Mis- 
sion, T. S. Webb; Augusta, Joseph Marsee, J. F. 
M'Daniel; Lebanon, Jessie Hill, A. Gurney; Thorn- 
town, William Campbell, L. G. Welton; Dayton, 
Ferris Pierce; Crawfordsville, Hezekiah Smith; 
Ladoga, John Edwards, C. B. Heath; Bainbridge, 
H. S. Shaw; Springtown, Lewis Roberts; Pitts- 
borough, Houghton W. Brown; Danville, Conrad S. 
Burgner; James C. Reede, Agent of the Tract 
society, — member of Indianapolis Mission Quarterly 
Conference. 

The presiding elder moved from LaPorte to 
Indianapolis, and, although, his official connection 
with the city was now confined to the north-west 
quarter, yet he was rejoiced to meet many of his 
old friends and former parishioners of Roberts 
chapel. In a few weeks after his arrival at 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 225 

the city, he was called to conduct the 
funeral services of the estimable wife of his 
distinguished friend, Calvin Fletcher, one of 
the leading members of his former pastoral 
charge. The elect lady's funeral sermon was 
preached from the text recorded in Proverbs, 31st 
chapter and 30th verse: "Favor is deceitful, and 
beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, 
she shall be praised." 

After remaining in Indianapolis some eight 
weeks or more, he decided, for the purpose of aid- 
ing in the founding of an academy or school of 
high grade for the benefit of his growing family 
and others, to move to Thorntown, in Boone county, 
where the "Thorntown Academy" was opened in the 
spring of 1855, with Rev. Levi Tarr, A. M., as its 
first principal. This institution of learning, which 
adopted from the beginning the then unpopular 
system of co-education, had a vigorous, useful, and 
highly successful career for quite a number of 
years. The first board of trustees consisted of the 
following named persons : Oliver Craven, esq., 
Rev. Wm. Campbell, Philip Kring, Nelson W. 
Weakly, sec'y, with J. L. Smith, president. Among 
the many educated at this institution not a few are 
found in the learned professions. The first gradu- 
ating class consisted of Cynthia Cason, Russell D. 
Utter, James F. Scull. Miss Cason, a young lady 
of superior talents, died a few years after her grad- 
uation. J. F. Scull is the popular and efficient 
Superintendant of the Rochester (Indiana) city 
schools. R. D. Utter, who has achieved a fine rep- 
utation as a scholar, educator, and preacher, is a 



226 INDIANA METHODISM, 

member of the North-west Indiana conference. 
Rev. W. R. Mikels, pastor of Grace church, South 
Bend, was for some time a Thorntown student; also 
Rev. W. P. McKinsey, now stationed at Lebanon; 
as also Rev. L. C. Buckles, presiding elder of the 
LaFayette district; Rev. }. H. Claypool, Tacoma, 
Washington; Rev. Franklin Mikels, Stockwell; and 
Rev. L. S. Buckles, Thorntown. Others are found 
in educational work and in the legal and medical 
professions. Scores of gifted young women were 
educated at the Thorntown school, and but for 
them what would such men as W. P. McKinsey, J. 
H. Claypool, and W. R. Mikels have done for 
wives? The Rev. Dr. C. N. Simms, also, found his 
wife at the Thorntown Academy. 

After a few years, Rev. Mr. Tarr resigned the pro- 
fessorship, to go into the pastoral work. His suc- 
cessors were Rev. C. N. Simms, D. D., now 
Chancellor of Syracuse University, New York; Rev. 
O. H. Smith, minister and educator in the South- 
west; Professor John Clark Ridpath, LL. D., the 
distinguished historian, now resident of Green- 
castle; and others. At one of the annual com- 
mencements of this Academy, an amusing incident 
occurred. Among the students was a farmer's 
daughter, witty, brilliant and studious, who became 
a fine scholar. This young lady's mother was a 
cultured and refined woman. The father was almost 
a semi-idiot and very illiterate. Of course this 
young lady was more or less prominent in all the 
school exhibitions. On the occasion referred to 
this writer happened to be seated immediately in 
the rear of where the father sat by the side of a 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 227 

neighbor farmer. The young lady read a taking 
essay u and, at its close, was cheered and other- 
wise highly complimented. At this moment 
her father turned to his neighbor and said, "That is 
my daughter, and, don't you see, blood will tell." 

The work of the church on the district, went for- 
ward grandly and the close of the year showed a 
handsome forward movement along almost all lines 
of work, with a large number converted and many 
added to the membership. 

The next session of the conference was held at 
Delphi, commencing August 28, 1855, Bishop Ames 
in the chair, Professor B. H. Nadal, sec'y. At this 
conference the exciting subject for discussion was 
the abolition of slavery. Not a few sought to have 
this question largly enter into the question of the 
election of delegates to the next General conference. 
While no member of the Annual conference by 
word or even innuendo declared himself in favor of 
slavery, yet the conference was divided, with con- 
servative anti-slavery men on one side and the 
extreme abolitionists on the other. This writer 
had been taught from his infancy to look upon 
slavery as a geat sin, and yet, by the extremists he 
was looked upon as a conservative ; and, conse- 
quently, as the radicals slightly outnumbered the 
conservatives, he lacked two or three votes of being 
elected as a delegate to the General conference 
which met at Indianapolis, May 1st, 1856. 

As before stated, one quarter of the city of In- 
dianapolis was in his district, and so, though not a 
member, he was about as regular an attendant at the 
sessions of the General conference, and took as 



228 INDIANA METHODISM, 

much interest in the discussions, as any member of 
the body. Among the more aged brothers o/ that 
body were James B. Finley and Peter Cartwright, re- 
spectively of Ohio and Illinois. This writer, as well 
as the people of Thorntown, was greatly delighted, 
when these two venerable men agreed to go out 
with him and spend a Sunday at his home and each 
of them preach to the people of the village. 

Both of these octogenarians were great smokers, 
having come into the church and ministry under 
the old dispensation, before the tobacco rule was 
incorporated in the discipline. It so happened that 
neither of them had with him his pipe or tobacco. 
Such was the effect of their suddenly breaking off 
this somewhat unseemly practice, that they ap- 
peared in a degree to lose their sweet and gentle 
manner in conversation both as between them- 
selves and others. 

Cartwright preached in the morning. The sermon 
was largely made up of reminiscences, relating some 
of his conflicts with the rowdies at camp-meetings, 
and many other things pertaining to the customs 
of the people in early days, especially in the rural 
districts. One incident only may be mentioned 
here. 

At a certain camp-meeting, some one of the 
preachers, possibly Cartwright himself, whenever a 
seeker of religion would go forward to be prayed 
for, would speak out distinctly, "Thank the Lord, 
another sinner down," till the rowdies caught up 
the refrain, and would go outside the encampment 
and shout at the top of their voices, especially if 
they were wrestling or fighting and some one was 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 229 

felled to the earth, crying out — "Thank the Lord, 
another sinner down." And so after the close of 
the meeting as Mr. Cartwright was on his way re- 
turning home in a very muddy lane, a number of 
the same rowdies overtook him, all on horseback. 
The rowdies seeing their opportunity, for there 
was a great deal of water as well as mud on the 
road from the late rains, concluded to spur up their 
horses and in a body dash through and get ahead 
of the preacher, intending, if possible to bespatter 
him from head to foot with mud and water. Just 
as the leader of the gang came up opposite to Mr. 
Cartwright, he spoke out in a loud voice "Thank 
the Lord, another sinner down," alluding to Cart- 
wright, whose clothes by this time were almost 
covered with mud : at that moment the rowdy's 
horse fell down and threw his rider heels over head 
into the mud, and now it was Cartwright's time, so, 
lifting up his voice like a trumpet, he cried out, 
"Thank the Lord, another sinner down." 

But his sermon was not all made up of stories of 
that sort. He gave the people a good many im- 
portant things to think about. In the evening the 
"Old Chief," as Mr. Finley was called, came for- 
ward as a weeping prophet, and delivered a sermon 
worthy of the man, worthy of the occasion, and 
worthy of the cause he represented. Their host on 
Monday morning at an early hour supplied them 
with pipes and tobacco, when they became loqua- 
cious and genial as was their wont at all times 
when not deprived of facilities to indulge the ac- 
quired habit of using the noxious weed. 

The delegates from the Northwest Indiana con- 



230 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ference to the General conference, of 1856, were as 
follows, viz. : Jacob M. Stallard, George M. Boyd, 
James L. Thompson, and William Graham. 

The secretary of the General conference must 
have been very derelict in the performance of his 
duties in keeping the journals, as it is not shown 
from the records of the session that one of these 
good brethren made a motion, or offered a resolu- 
tion, or presented a paper of any kind, excepting 
their "credentials," during the session of that honor- 
able body. 

The fraternal delegates from the Wesleyan Meth- 
odists to the conference were the Rev. Drs. Hannah 
and Jobson. Dr. Hannah was a very able preacher, 
a Christian gentleman, and seemed to win all hearts 
during the session. In regard to Dr. Jobson, rumors 
were rife at the time, in Indianapolis, that he felt 
that he must keep up and maintain the habits which 
he had acquired in early life, in England, and so he 
demanded his quota of lager beer as an indispensa- 
ble part of his daily meal. 

Rev. Samuel C. Cooper, a noble specimen of man- 
hood, and a distinguished preacher, that year led the 
delegation of the North Indiana conference. Mr. 
Cooper died in July of the same year (1856), and a 
fews years ago, this writer prepared a sketch of the 
life and labors of that grand pioneer preacher, which, 
in the belief that it will interestmany of the readers 
of this volume, is here given. 

"Few names forty years ago in Indiana Method- 
ism stood more prominent or deservedly more 
honored than that of S. C. Cooper. He was one 
of the heroic band of itinerant pioneers who laid 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 2 3* 

deep and broad the foundations of American Meth- 
odism in Indiana. He was born in Baltimore, 
Md., May 17, 1799. While a child his parents 
removed to Ohio. In 18 18 he was converted, and 
soon after was licensed to exhort, and felt a deep 
conviction that he was called to preach. Like many- 
others, he resisted these impressions and devoted 
his energies to secular pursuits. For a time success 
attended his efforts, but through treachery and 
broken banks his earnings were swept away, and 
he sought a home farther west. He erected his 
cabin in Southern Illinois. Here a deeper sorrow 
overtook him. His young wife died, leaving him 
with two small children. God spoke to his heart, 
and he could no longer resist. His former impres- 
sions of duty returned with great force and he resolv- 
ed to obey the call. 

"Three months from the death of his wife, at the 
call of Rev. Charles Holliday, in December, 1826, 
he was laboring as an exhorter on Vincennes cir- 
cuit, with Stephan R. Beggs as preacher in charge. 
During this year he was lincensed to preach, and was 
admitted on trial in the traveling connection in Sep- 
tember, 1827, and appointed to Cash- River circuit in 
Illinois. In 1828 he was appointed to the Prince- 
ton circuit, Indiana, where he married her who for 
nearly thirty years cheerfully shared the toils and sac- 
rifices incident to an itinerant life in Indiana fifty years 
ago. Mr. Cooper by hard study and untiring indus- 
try, took high rank, so that in eight years from the 
time of his admission on trial he was made presid- 
ing elder of Bloomington district. With that wise 
forecast for which he was remarkable, he was among 



232 INDIANA METHODISM, 

the most active of the fathers in planning for a great 
university in Indiana. 

"Such were his high business qualifications, his 
push and pluck, that the wise men of the conference 
chose him as financial agent of the new and dar- 
ing enterprise. He gave seven consecutive years — 
the best of his life — to raising money and securing 
students for the infant college. In doing this 
he traveled on horse back in all weather, with 
an abandon of personal care or comfort, which 
made him a hero if not a martyr. There are three 
names which, in connection with the Indiana Asbury 
university, should never be forgotten, — S. C. Cooper, 
Isaac Owen, and Daniel DeMotte. To them be- 
long the honor of so preparing and laying the finan- 
cial basis of "Asbury" as to make "DePauw" possible. 
Brother Cooper was honored by election as dele- 
gate to the General conference at Pittsburg in 1848 
and to that at Indianapolis in 1856. He served the 
church twenty-eight years — eight on circuits, seven 
as agent, and thirteen as presiding elder. 

"He was in his place as delegate to the General 
conference in 1856, answering to the first roll-call. 
For the first ten days of the session he remained 
with that body, but finding himself daily growing 
weaker, he was compelled to return to his home in 
Greencastle. His work was done. He had fought 
a good fight, but worn out with overwork, he went 
sweetly to rest in Jesus, July 19, 1856, in his fifty- 
eighth year, and the twenty-ninth of his ministry. 
Although bordering on three-score, his death was 
premature ; for with his iron frame, but for the ter- 
rible exposure and excessive horseback riding east 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 233 

and west, from one line of the State to the other, 
north and south, from the Ohio river to Lake Mich- 
igan, he might have reached four-score. His chil- 
dren, most of them daughters, he lived to see well 
settled in life, all occupying highly respectable so- 
cial positions, and all members of the church. His 
honored son, *Rev. Samuel T. Cooper, of Northwest 
Indiana conference, residing at St. Joseph, Mich., 
inherited all the best traits of his distinguished 
father. Though now, and for several years super- 
annuated, his praise is in all the churches as a man 
of God, an able minister, and of great success in 
looking after the poor and neglected in the adjacent 
neighborhoods, where there are no regular pastors. 
He, too, has raised a beautiful family. The energy, 
industry, and force of the father and grandfather 
softened by the grace and quiet dignity of a pious and 
cultured mother,seem to reproduce in the children the 
ancestral traits, so that father and sons are living ex- 
amples of the Pauline ideal, in that they are not 
slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the 
Lord. Some one has said : 'It is not to him that 
acts the most conspicuous part in life's drama that 
shall be awarded the highest meed of praise, but to 
him, rather, who acts best the part in life's lot as- 
signed him.' Judged by this rule, and measuring 
the lives of all who have borne the historic name of 
Cooper, whether it be Anthony Ashley, the philan- 
thropist ; Sir Astly, the surgeon ; Ezekial, the 
preacher; James Fenimore, author of 'The last of the 
Mohicans,' or James, the American General and 
United States senator, no one has filled his appro- 

* Died. 



234 INDIANA METHODISM, 

priate sphere with more inflexible integrity, 
persistent energy, unflagging zeal, and ulti- 
mate success than Rev. Samuel C. Cooper. Noble 
man ! moral hero ! thy deeds live, thy worth abides ! 
'Death does not end all,' for 'the righteous shall be 
had in everlasting- remembrance." ' 



CHAPTER XXI. 

MISSIONERY COMMITTEE — FIRST CONFERENCE IN 
INDIA. 

The conference was held in Crawfordsville in 
1856 by Bishop Janes, beginning October 8, with 
Professor Nadal, sec'y. At this conference the 
following persons were admitted on trial : John H- 
Cox, Edward Roszell, Richard S. Robinson, L. S. 
Boyce, Albert Kellogg, John R. Eddy, George 
Guion, James W. Greene, Aaron Hays, Charles L. 
Smith, Jesse S. Woodard, Leonard S. Martin. Of 
these twelve, one only remains as a member of 
the North-west Indiana conference, viz., J. W- 
Greene, D. D. This distinguished brother has 
been highly successful in every part of the work to 
which, from time to time, he has been assigned; 
whether on Rennselaer circuit, Crown Point, Stock- 
well, Delphi Station, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, 
Greencastle or Crawfordsville, — whether a circuit 
preacher, stationed preacher, or presiding elder ? 
he has proved himself in his efficient and honor- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 235 

able career the peer of any man in the conference. 
This good brother was exceedingly fortunate in his 
selection as helpmeet the cultured Christian daugh- 
ter of Samuel Organ, esq., of LaPorte, Indiana. 
Brother Greene and his good wife, under God's 
blessing have succeeded well in raising a fine group 
of noble boys, one of whom at least is married 
and settled in a Western city, and has already ac- 
quired a high standing as an attorney at law. 
Others are studying in the learned professions. 
And the father and mother have reason not 
only to be grateful to the God of grace, but justly 
proud of their promising sons. 

Rev. John R. Eddy, a son of Rev. Augustus 
Eddy, and a brother of the distinguished T. M.Eddy, 
succeeded in his work, was highly esteemed by 
the people as a man, and a devoted Christian pastor. 
In 1862 his work was Attica station. During the 
year 1863, while the war of the rebellion was raging, 
Brother Eddy, at the earnest request of a number 
of his friends of the 72 Indiana regiment, accepted 
the chaplaincy. He joined his regiment at Mur- 
freesborough, Tenn., and commenced his labors 
among the soldiers, Sunday, June 21, preaching 
from Prov. 16, 32: "He that is slow to anger is 
better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his 
spirit than he that taketh a city." Wednesday, 
June 24, during a fight between Col. Wilder's cav- 
alry brigade and the rebel forces he was instantly 
killed by a shell. Chaplain Layton wrote back to 
the friends of Brother Eddy, "He sleeps, but no 
canon will wake him; he fell at his post, fearlessly 
doing his duty." He fell in the vigor of manhood 



236 INDIANA METHODISM, 

into a Christian patriot's grave. His blood mingled 
with the copious stream that America's loyal sons 
poured out to invigorate the tree of liberty, and 
fertilize the vales of freedom. 

In view of the growing interests of the Thorntown 
Academy, and for other reasons, William F. 
Wheeler, the sweet singer of our Israel was placed 
on the Indianapolis district, and J. L. Smith was 
sent to Thorntown station, and Rev. William 
Campbell became agent for the school; and so three 
of the earnest workers in building up the institution 
resided in the village where the academy was located. 
At that time in Thorntown there were seven places 
where intoxicating drinks were sold. The trustees 
and friends of the school before named, determined 
to close up this nefarious business, so that no patron 
of the school should fear to send his son as a stu- 
dent lest he might be led astray through the saloon 
influence. Public meetings were held, earnest 
speeches were delivered, resolutions were passed, 
all showing the liquor sellers that the community 
was in earnest; and the better citizens of the place, 
being a large majority of the whole, adopted for 
their guidance and government, — "Peaceably, if we 
can; forceably, if we must." Suffice it to say that in 
a little over one month from that time not a drop 
of liquor could be bought in Thorntown, even at 
the drug store. And for many years, and indeed 
until recently, no saloon has been established in 
that town. 

The General Missionary committee, 1856 — 1860, 
representing the seven General conference districts 
stood as follows: 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 237 

District No. I, N. J. B. Morgan; District No. 2, L. 
Crowell; District No. 3, W. Reddy; District No 4, 
J. M. Trimble; District No. 5, J. L. Smith; District 
No. 6, H. Crews, District No. 7, W. H. Goode. 

In later years the members of the general Mis- 
sionary committee have been elected by the gen- 
eral conference, but in 1856, and, for some time 
after that, they were appointed by the bishops. 
Forthe year above named, thecommittee held its first 
meeting in the mission rooms at 200 Mulberry st, 
New York, commencing November 12. During that 
year Rev. Dr. William Butler sailed for India, our 
first missionary to the people of that country. Soon 
after his arrival at Lucknow the Sepoy rebellion 
broke out, and he had to fly to the Himalayas for 
safety. He soon, however, made the acquaintance 
of an honest native whom he called Joel. And the 
church was very much interested in the doctor's let- 
ters from India, in some of which he speaks 
of Joel and himself as holding their first meet- 
ing in a sheep-pen. The same Joel was his first 
convert in India, and became a useful helper in the 
beginning of our work in that wonderful country, — 
a work now grown to such unlooked for proportions. 

During that session of the General Missionary 
committee, or, rather, at its close, on 
Saturday evening, this writer whose zeal was 
perhaps superior to his knowledge, moved that 
the members of the committee, instead of leaving 
after midnight on Sunday night for their homes or 
even on Monday morning, have a ratification meet- 
ing on Monday night in St. Paul's church, not dream- 
ing, when he made the motion, that he might be ap- 



238 INDIANA METHODISM, 

pointed as one of the speakers on that occasion. A 
committee was appointed among the laymen to ar- 
range a program and all other matters necessary 
for the meeting on Monday night. The Rev. Dr. John 
P. Durbin, who was then missionary secretary, pub- 
lished in the "Missionary Advocate" a full report of 
the ratification meeting as follows : — 

"MISSIONARY DEMONSTRATION." 

"This was the notice given of a meeting deter- 
mined upon at the close of the late session of the 
General Missionary committee. So favorably was 
the proposition entertained, that, with the excep- 
tion of one of the superintendents and one member of 
the General committee, all found it possible to remain 
until Monday evening, November 7th, to attend a 
public missionary meeting at St. Paul's church, cor- 
ner of Fourth avenue and Twenty-second street. The 
laymen of the committee were appointed to carry 
out the object, make the necessary arrangements, 
and the program for the exercises, etc., etc. 

"This committee consisted of M. F. Odell, W. 
Truslow, H. M. Forrester, and J. H. Taft. Arrange- 
ments were made to secure the presence of the pas- 
tors of the city and places adjacent ; indeed, they 
came from distances that surprised us. At the time 
appointed those who had by previous arrangement 
assembled with the members of the board in the 
chapel connected with the church, passed to the 
places assigned them within and around the alter of 
the church while the bishops and members of the 
General Missionary committee took their seats upon 
the platform. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 239 

"Bishop Morris opened the service by giving out 
a missionary hymn, which was sung by the whole 
congregation — a grand assembly for numbers and 
interest — after which prayer was offered by Bishop 
Ames. 

"The Corresponding secretary being then called 
upon, gave a brief account of the temper and action 
of the church in sustaining the progress of the mis- 
sionary cause during the current year just closing, 
and in the course of his remarks related the se- 
vere privations which had been endured by many 
of the home missionaries in the northwest during 
the year, some of whom had been obliged with their 
families to live upon nothing but corn bread, not 
having enough wheat even for sacramental services ; 
and of money, in some cases, not enough to pay the 
postage on their letters ; and yet these men said to* 
the conference : 'The people have done the very 
best they could ; we have lived and suffered with 
them in their privations, we will continue to do so, 
and stay and share in their better times when, with 
the Divine blessing, better crops are given them !' 

"The secretary further stated that the deliberations 
of the committee were marked with great anxiety, for 
it was apparent that greater aid must be offered to 
those suffering home-laborers ; and it was equally 
apparent that the opening doors inviting our en- 
trance, and the growth of our missions abroad, called 
for an increase in the appropriations to our foreign 
work. In this connection he also named the remark- 
able liberality of European residents in India to our 
mission in that land ; the same was true of their lib- 
erality to our mission in China, and this too from 



24O INDIANA METHODISM, 

parties not members of our communion. 

"The committee, after having severally given an 
account of the probable support to be hoped for from 
the sections of the country they represented, pro- 
ceeded, after making the appropriation for Africa, 
to take up the home ivork, not as the most destitute, 
but as it had in some parts endured great privation, 
it was desired to extend all possible relief in that 
direction before proceeding any further with foreign 
fields. That part of the work being disposed of, 
provision for the foreign fields was made without 
much delay, and the result — after deducting the 
amounts which the good-will and zeal of several of 
the conferences led them to decline receiving — 
reached an aggregate of Two Hundred and Eighty- 
three Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty-nine Dol- 
lars. 

"Bishop Baker was the next in order to address 
the meeting, and he did it with admirable effect, giv- 
ing a succinct account of the rise, progress, and pres- 
ent condition of our work on the Pacific coast. His 
allusion to Jason Lee, and his work of faith and la- 
bor of love, was both most tender and well-merited. 
He also paid a deserved and honorable tribute to 
the memory of the local preachers who were the 
founders of the church in California. A more com- 
pact and intellgent speech we have rarely if ever 
listened to. 

"Rev. W. H. Goode came next, to inform the audi- 
ence of the extention of the borders of the church of 
God into and far beyond the territories of Kansas 
and Nebraska, to Pike's Peak and the Rocky Moun- 
tains. This brother is emphatically, and has been 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 241 

for years, a frontier missionary, and he dwelt with 
true nobility of character and manner upon the tri- 
umphs — the Cross of Christ had won, and with fervor 
spoke of the conquests he yet anticipated even in the 
very heart of Utah, confronting and overthrowing 
the scandalous, and worse than Mohamedan, and 
affronting system of uncleanliness existing there ; 
offering in conclusion, that, if the superintendents 
of the church could find no more fit and willing in- 
strument, they might take himself ! This minister 
is a fitting companion for the heroes of this or any 
other age of the church. 

"Rev. Hooper Crews, of the Rock River confer- 
ence, next gave the result of his observations in the 
West, having himself been a pioneer in Illinois, 
when obliged to go on foot forty-five miles without 
seeing the face of a white man or getting any re- 
freshments, and at the end of such a route, on one 
occasion, to administer the sacrament to a man and 
his wife who dwelt alone in the wilderness, and with 
whom in this blessed rite he enjoyed a higher sat- 
isfaction than he would in being possessor of 
the town of Rockford, in which he now lived, but 
which, at the time he was speaking of, he might 
have possessed by simply staking it out and enter- 
ing it in the land office. 

"Bishop Janes now came forward in the order as- 
signed him, and apologized for his position among 
them on the ground of his love of order and obedi- 
ence. His appointment being made by the laity, 
he felt bound to stand up in his place, and justify 
their action in this respect and their devotion to the 
missionary cause. We had been hearing from the 



242 INDIANA METHODISM, 

circumference, and it was not perhaps amiss to hear 
from the center or heart of this great missionary 
movement. It gave him pleasure to testify to the 
health, and soundness, and activity of the heart, 
and of his confidence that still, as heretofore, in this 
seat of the origin and organization of our great 
missionary work, the heart might be relied upon. 
We can safely defy any one to do justice to the in- 
imitable speeches of the bishop upon misionary 
occasions. 

"Rev. N.J. B. Morgan, of Baltimore, being called 
upon, gave account of his field as the mother of 
missionaries, having them in China, India, Bulgaria, 
Sandwich Islands, in California, and in Oregon. 
The people of his region of country were lovers of 
the missionary cause, giving cheerfully of their 
sons and of their substance to it, and in devotion to 
this great calling of the Church were regarded in 
the relation of a twin brother to their brethern at 
New York. 

"Rev. W. Reddy, of Western New York, then, in 
a happy manner, referred to the relation sustained 
to the cause by the section of country from whence 
he came, and argued, from present indications, that 
greater proof of genuine attachment would here- 
after be given by all that section of country. Broth- 
er Reddy was especially happy in referring to the 
hallowing and liberalizing influence the conference 
of the Missionary Committee and Board had upon 
all concerned, and that the period of his connec- 
tion with them had been a profitable one to himself 
in its catholic and sanctifying influences. Prayer 
for the conversion of the heathen world, and faith 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 243 

In its more speedy accomplishment, would more 
largely hereafter occupy his heart. 

"Rev. J. M. Trimble, of Ohio, announced himself 
a missionary by parentage, having in him 'the faith 
which dwelt in his grandmother,' who, from the 
time of her conversion, rested not from announcing 
the preciousness of Christ until she went to Abra- 
ham's bosom. If she went not 'everywhere preach- 
ing the word,' everywhere she did go she ceased 
not to 

— 'Tell it to all around 
What a dear Savior she had found.' 

Many who heard her, turned unto the Lord, and 
Brother Trimble declared from his personal knowl- 
edge that her faith did not abide alone. He touch- 
inlgy adverted to the fact of the introduction of 
Brother Nast to him while he was yet under awak- 
ening ; how he prayed with him, and dismissed him 
with a letter of introduction to the next preacher ; 
of the visit of this German penitent to the camp- 
meeting ; of his conversion and early connection 
with the conference, and of the now rapid exten- 
sion of the German work at home and abroad. 

"Rev. J. L. Smith, of Indiana, was now called out, 
and gave his experience of pioneer life, relating with 
great zest his early preaching efforts in a court- 
house built of poles notched and laid up after the 
manner of a log house, and of wending his way by 
Indian trails to camp-meeting, until he came where 
two ways met, and he was directed in the true way by 
seeing on the bark of a smooth beech tree, standing 
at the fork of the road, written by some ingenious 
person who had dipped his finger in the mud to do 



244 INDIANA METHODISM, 

it : HJgg^'For the camp ground take the right hand 
road!'' The first year of his itinerant life he shod 
his own horse, paid his own ferriage, and received 
for the year's labor seventy-five cents! Another 
year, when he had a married collegue, they had col- 
lected, or the stewards had, at the close of the year, 
seven dollars and some cents. This was spread up- 
on the table at the fourth quarterly meeting, con- 
sisting of small pieces of silver, sixpences and shill- 
ings. A good man, seeing so much money in that 
then wild country, blessed his Maker because the 
preachers were not likely to starve that year. He 
then dilated upon the enjoyment of the days when, 
at quarterly meetings, the brethern could entertain- 
as many visitors as they had puncheons in their 
floor, and that the same devotion to Christ's cause 
still obtained among those people ; for when the 
wants of the missionary treasury and the sufferings 
of pioneer brethern were known in his conference 
they generously declined receiving any or next to 
any missionary appropriations. This warm-hearted 
man wound up by an allusion to the avowed twin re- 
lationship existing between Baltimore and New York, 
that it was well-known among woodmen that the 
hardest of all trees to split was one with two hearts ! 
To say that the audience were moved by this happy 
hit is not exactly the thing, but he 'brought down 
the house' although it was a church. 

"BishopSimpson complimented Bishop Janes upon 
his usual classical excellence, and excused his ap- 
pearance before the audience at so late an hour as a 
device of the committee of arrangements with which 
to 'taper off' the exercises. With this pleasant in- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 245 

troduction he took occasion to give the result of his 
observations upon our missionary field in Germany, 
Scandinavia, and Bulgaria ; remarking upon the 
fruitfulness and true Methodistic character of our 
German work ; upon the hunger of 'the word' ap- 
parent through all Scandinavia ; men, women, and 
children pressing upon him, taking his hands in both 
theirs, and giving thanks with tears for the messen- 
gers sent them. He dwelt upon their devotion to 
the faith they had embraced, their great zeal in 
contributing of their own scanty means to build 
houses for public worship worthy of older societies ; 
his admiration of their general character and ap- 
pearance — their fair complexion, blue eyes, and no- 
ble bearing causing him to think that every man he 
met was a brother. He especially dwelt upon their 
innate love of liberty, on the advances made by 
Norway in the way to equality and the abolition of no- 
bility or caste ; relating that in the final struggle, 
when the nobles seeing the commons were in the 
ascent and would triumph, one of them arose and 
declared the impending event had determined him 
to expatriate himself from his native country, which 
he did, then and there, by addressing an apostrophe 
to the great mountains, the bulwarks of his native 
land, 'Farevell !' and to the rivers and streams, 
'Farevell !' and to the associates of his youth and 
maturer years, 'Farevell !' Upon the conclusion 
of which one of the members quietly arose and said, 
'I hear the mountains and rivers echoing, Veil ! 
Veil!!' 

"Reader, to appreciate this you should have been 
there. But did you ever hear Bishop Simpson ? 



246 * INDIANA METHODISM, 

"He proceeded to say, that in Bulgaria we have 
missionaries fitted to their work, and paid a high 
compliment to the women of the American Board 
wherever found in the lands of the East. He most 
touchingly alluded to his failing health in the East, 
and the saddening effects the news of the great finan- 
cial crisis had upon him, and again to the marvelous 
effect produced when he heard that New York had 
aroused herself and poured of her offerings into the 
treasury of the Lord, in a manner which served to 
inspire the whole church, and send a thrill of joy 
over all lands whither our missionaries have gone to 
preach the acceptable year of the Lord! 

"Rev. Thomas Carlton, the indefatigable treasurer 
of the society, followed up this charming address by 
moving,andZ)/-. M £7z'/2/tf<:/£byseconding,that the au- 
dience present do then and there ratify the proceed- 
ings and result of the General Committee and Board 
by a rising vote ; whereupon, and before the chairman 
could submit the question, the vast assembly were 
upon their feet ; when the Doxology, tune of Old 
Hundred, was sung, and the benediction pronounced 
by the venerable Dr. Bangs upon the largest and 
happiest meeting ever convened to speak so directly 
for, and in behalf of, the MISSIONARY CAUSE." 

At the first conference of the Indian mission of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, in 1859-60, the ap- 
pointments stood as follow : — 

Rev. William Butler, D. D , Superintendent. 

Luck noiv. --Revs. R. Pearce and J. Baume, mission- 
aries. J. A. Cawdell, local preacher, and Joel, na- 
tive preacher ; Robert, Ameer, Mirza, teachers ; 
Peggy, in charge of orphan girls No. 178. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 247 

Shahjehanpore. — Rev. J. W. Waugh, missionary. 
Sheo Ghoolan, Moonshee, Isaac Jones, teacher. 

Bareilly. — Revs. J. L. Humphrey.and J. R. Downey, 
missionaries. Joel, native preacher ; Zoor-ool 
Huck, and Isaac John, teachers ; John, in charge of 
orphan boys. 

Mooradabad. — Revs. C. W. Judd and J. Parsons, 
missionaries. Samuel, native preacher ; James and 
Jamaut Sing, native exhorters ; Mooassee Sing, and 
Bulloo Sing, teachers. 

Bijnour. — Rev. E. W. Parker, missionary. Wil- 
liam, native exhorter. 

Nynee Tal. — Revs. J. M. Thoburn and S. Knowles, 
missionaries. Jacob, teacher. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

GENERAL CONFERENCE i860— REV. S. T. COOPER. 

At the conference held at LaFayette, Indiana, 
commencing October 1, 1857, Bishop Waugh pre- 
sided, with Joseph C. Reed, secretary. The follow- 
ing named brethern were admitted on trial: Will- 
iam R. Mikels, Thomas C. Stringer, Francis M. 
Pavey, Wilson Beckner, Thomas C. Hackney, De- 
Witt C. Farrington, John B. Adell, John C. Mahin, 
Patrick H. D.utch, William T. Brooke, Charles N. 
Sims, James A. Clearwaters, Josiah Parsons, Moses 



248 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Blackstock, an elder, was received from Canada 
conference. Of these fourteen names only four re- 
main upon roll of the Northwest Indiana confer- 
ence at this writing (1892). W. R. Mikels has had 
a useful and successful career, having, in the last 
thirty years or more of his itinerant life, served 
some of our best stations and been a useful, active, 
and popular presiding elder eight years — four 
years on the Valparaiso district, and then four 
years on the Crawfordsville district. He is now the 
beloved, honored, and successful pastor of Grace 
church, South Bend. Rev. Francis M. Pavey, is a 
true gospel preacher, who, for purity of diction, 
perspicuity of statement, and clear-cut analysis, 
force and effectiveness, is perhaps not surpassed by 
any man in the conference. He did faithful and ac- 
ceptable work for four years on the LaPorte dis- 
trict, was honored by his brethern with a seat in 
the general conference in 1884. and is now the 
esteemed pastor of Rockville station. J. A. Clear- 
waters, a man of high character, and a Christian 
gentleman, has done faithful and successful work 
in all the years of his ministry. After traveling 
circuits, occupying stations, and serving the Frank- 
fort district five years as presiding elder, he is the 
same faithful, reliable, and able preacher; and the 
good people of Attica, this year, are to be felicita- 
ted on their good fortune in having such a man as 
their pastor. 

Brother Thomas C. Hackney, a beloved brother 
after years of faithful labors, yet lingers, honored 
for the work he has accomplished, but in failing 
health, among the superannuated of the conference. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 249 

Rev. Charles N. Sims, a graduate of Asbury, now 
DePauw, University, was at one time the principal 
of the Thorntown Academy; afterwards, also, pres- 
ident of the Valparaiso "Male and Female College," 
now the great "Northern Indiana Normal," which 
averages year after year, two thousand or more 
students. Dr. Sims resigned the presidency of the 
college above named to go into the pastoral work; 
and after serving Richmond station, Evansville, 
Indianapolis, etc., was transferred East, where great 
success attended his labors as pastor, — in Balti- 
more, Newark, N. J., and Brooklyn, New York. He 
is now, and for several years has been, the success- 
ful and honored chancellor of the Syracuse Uni- 
versity, N. Y. 

By the conference minutes of 1857 it is found that, 
for Attica district, J. L. Smith was presiding elder. 
He had the good fortune to have associated with 
him as fellow-laborers, such men as Richard Har- 
grave, George M. Boyd, Samuel T. Cooper, and 
others, who, if of less note, were not less worthy. 
For many years, and that without controversy, 
Richard Hargrave stood in the conference without a 
peer as a great preacher. His volume of published 
sermons will stand as an enduring monument of 
the grandeur of the wonderful pulpit power. Also 
in the last few years Rev. William P. Hargrave, the 
worthy son of a noble sire, has published a volume, 
to still further commemorate the name and fame of 
his distinguished father. At his request this writer 
furnished some items concerning his father's minis- 
tery for that volume, and now takes the liberty of 
transcribing a paragraph or two from the article. 



250 indiana methodism, 

Valparaiso, Ind., Feb. 27, 1890. 
Rev. IV. P. Har grave, A. M: 

My Dear Brother, — My acquaintance with your 
honored father commenced at the session of the 
Indiana conference held in Indianapolis, in Octo- 
ber, 1840. I was then quite a young man, was at 
the conference for admission on trial, and had 
nothing to do but to take notes of men and things. 
I there among others first met Allen Wiley, Aaron 
Wood, Enoch G. Wood, E. R. Ames, Mathew 
Simpson and Richard Hargrave. On the evening 
o( the first day of the conference your father 
preached in the old church, which was densely 
crowded, with perhaps hundreds unable to gain ad- 
mittance. The text and sermon I shall never for- 
get. He was then in the prime of his physical and 
intellectual manhood, with broad shoulders and 
massive head, and, as he arose in the pulpit, I was 
reminded of the lion shaking the dew drops from 
his mane. 

His text was chosen from Peter's second Epistle, 
and was read with a grandeur that deeply im- 
pressed me, and was as follows: "We have also a 
more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do 
well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth 
in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star 
arise in your hearts." There was stateliness and 
sublimity from the beginning, which gradually 
arose as a cloud in the heavens, accompanied by 
such lightning and thunder as I never before heard. 
Rev. George M. Boyd sat with him in the pulpit, 
and has often said to me that he made my ac- 
quaintance through my shouting "Amen!" during 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 25 I 

that wonderful sermon of your father's. I had the 
honor in after years to be your father's presiding 
elder; and, as I became more intimately acquainted 
with him, my admiration for his unique manner, and 
profound talents, and power as a preacher, grew 
with the years. 

When he was stationed at Frankfort in my dis- 
trict, I took with me to one of the quarterly meet- 
ings a young man who had quite a good opinion of 
himself, and we were invited to a turkey-dinner at 
the parsonage. Your father and I fell into a con- 
versation on the subject of the introduction of evil, 
or sin, into the world. Knowing well with whom I was 
talking, I was cautious in my expressions of opinion, 
but listened with reverence to the masterly manner 
in which your father treated the subject. Before he 
seemed to be quite through, the youngpreacher struck 
in with his views, evidently thinking to enlighten 
both of us. We sat mutely and listened until the 
close of his effort, when your father, with a pecu- 
liar look and manner, said to the young man, "Who 
was telling you?" 

At a camp-meeting, held at the Tippecanoe Battle 
Ground a few years ago, Bishop Ames preached on 
Sunday morning; and, as chairman of the 
committee on public worship, I requested 
Brother Hargrave to exhort, according to old 
Methodist style. "But," said I, "before 

you exhort, I want you to sing, 'Hear the royal 
proclamation.' " "But," saidjie, "I have forgotten 
it." "Go on," said I; "It will all come back to you." 
And so it did. 

Present on the occasion were the leading profes- 



252 INDIANA METHODISM, 

sional men of LaFayette, with a crowd of possibly 

near ten thousand people. Judge V , who 

was perhaps somewhat troubled with skepticism, 
said to me afterwards that he had been accustomed 
to hearing the finest performances in the opera as 
well as the best church-choirs in the nation, but that 
nothing he had ever heard anywhere affected him 
as did that song. For days and weeks, he remarked, 
he seemed to feel the swell of the music and the 
touch of the sentiment as your father with his so- 
norous voice and peculiar manner, came over the 
words : 

"Jesus reigns, he reigns victorious: 
Over heaven and earth most glorious, 
Jesus reigns." 

J. L. Smith. 

Bishop Waugh's sermon on the Sunday of the con- 
ference was one of great power; and it was said by Dr. 
Elliott and others present on the occasion, who had 
often heard the Bishop, that they thought the good 
man had never excelled that effort. The Bishop 
closed the sermon with these words, which are still 
held by the surviving members of the conference in 
precious remembrance, namely: "I am an old man; 
I have almost finished my labors; I shall soon shake 
hands with time; but, beloved brethern, best of all, 
I know I have a home over the river." 

The venerable man of God preached but one more 
sermon after that, which was at "Carlisle, Pennsyl- 
vania," and soon after went over and upward to his 
reward for, "the righteous shall be had in ever- 
lasting remembrance." 

Beginning September 29, 1858, Bishop Ames held 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 253 

the second conference north of the Kankakee river 
— this time at Valparaiso, — J. C. Reed acting- as 
sect'y. At this conference only two were admitted 
on trial, viz., D. F. Barnes and Leander C. Buckles. 
These two noble men still live to labor for the Mas- 
ter. Early in his career, Brother Barnes was trans- 
fered to the Michigan conference, and has long 
been, and now is, an honored member of that body. 
Brother Buckles is at present, presiding elder of the 
LaFayette district, — a man of sweet spirit and 
deep devotion; a genial companion, loved and 
honored by his brethern for his many 
noble qualities of mind and heart. He 

has never been a failure in any part of 
the work. For many years he occupied some of the 
leading stations of the conference, (including a full 
term on the Greencastle district,) with 
great acceptability, until his health failed, when, for 
a short time, he had to cease from active labor. 
Appreciating his great worth as a man, as a 
Christian and successful minister, his brethern 
honored him with a seat in the General conference 
of 1884. 

He is now having his wonted success as presiding 
elder, now in the first year of his second term in 
that responsible position 

The appointments on the LaFayette district for 
1858 stood thus : 

J. L. Smith, Presiding Elder; Lafayette, Western 
charge, A. A. Gee, Eastern charge, J. C. Reed; La- 
Fayette Circuit, W. R. Mikels; Delphi and Pitts- 
burgh, N. L. Brakeman; Camden, J. B. Mershon; 
Burlington, J. F. M'Daniel; Frankfort, R. Hargrave ; 



254 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Rossville, C. B. Heath; Clark's Hill, George Guion; 
Romney, J. White, J. Spinks; Dayton, J. Hill; 
Monticello, T. E. Webb; Thorntown, to be supplied. 
C. N. Sims, Principal, W. Campbell, Agent of 
Thorntown Academy, — members of Thorntown 
Quarterly Conference. 

Dr. Gee, one of the leading members of the con- 
ference, who had faithfully served in some of the 
more prominent positions in the conference, was af- 
ter the war of the rebellion, sent South by the 
church authorities to re-organize the societies of 
the Methodist Episcopal church in Tennessee, and, 
for a considerable time, did valiant service in that 
field of labor. When he felt that his work was ac- 
complished there, he returned, and was welcomed 
back among his fellow-laborers of the Northwest 
Indiana conference. With the close of the con- 
ference session, October, 1891, he closed a six-years 
term on the Greencastle district as presiding elder. 
And successful as he may have been in all the for- 
mer years of his ministery, the last six were pos- 
sibly the most successful of his whole ministerial 
life. He is yet firm in his gait, with robust health, 
and vigorous constitution. It would seem that with 
the divine blessing, many years yet may be added to 
his valuable and useful life as a minister of the 
Lord Jesus. 

Rev. Joseph C. Reed, D. D., was in all respects an 
honorable man, and had many elements of a suc- 
cessful pulpit orator. He was much loved where- 
ever he labored; conscientious, amiable, sweet- 
spirited, and fully devoted to his work as a man of 
God, he was successful in his work from the beszin- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 255 

ni'ng. The conference possibly never had a better 
secretary, a position which he held for a series of 
years, being, year after year, elected by acclama- 
tion. Although frail in health, he was an active 
and indefatigable worker and the popular preacher 
everywhere. His hair became gray while he was 
yet a comparatively young man. At the Crawfords- 
ville conference, in 187 1, Mrs. VanCott was holding 
a religious service, and upon her invitation a large 
number of the ministers were knelt together at the 
altar, the good woman, passing from one to another 
and speaking to each as she passed, placed her 
hands upon the hoary head of Brother Reed, and 
in deep solemnity said: "The Lord bless this thy 
venerable,- thy aged servant." That her remark 
caused smiles in the congregation is not so remark- 
able, but it would have been remarkable had the re- 
mark added solemnity to the occasion. A few 
years ago he finished his course with joy and 
went to his rest in the "beautiful beyond." 

Rev. N. L. Brakeman, A. M., occupied before, and 
up to his appointment at Valparaiso, some of the 
most important positions in the conference. He 
served as chaplain through the entire war of the 
rebellion, and, after the war was over, he was retained 
in the South by the church authorities, serving as 
presiding elder, and largely aiding in re-establishing 
the work of the church in the State of Louisiana. 
So far as known he was the only chaplain of any 
church in Indiana, who remained at his post 
through the entire campaign. He was with Gen- 
eral B. F. Butler at New Orleans, and heard the 
noted order of General Dix read to the officers of 



256 INDIANA METHODISM, 

the Union army, "If any man attempts to tear 
down the flag of the Union, shoot him on the 
spot." After Brother Brakeman returned to 
Indiana, he labored successfully at Fifth-st. church, 
Lafayette, Michigan City, Terre Haute, Frankfort, 
and Valparaiso. Constantly faithful like a brave 
warrior, which he was, he suddenly fell at his post 
in the city of Valparaiso, May 15, iSS 1 . 

Good Brother Jesse H li's name now stands on 
the superannuated list, after long years of faith- 
ful, laborious and useful service in the cause of his 
Master. He had just enough lisp in his voice to 
fasten attention with his first utterance in preach- 
ing or exhortation, and a zeal and earnestness that 
could not be mistaken or misunderstood by the 
audience; these together with his devotional spirit — 
his wonderful power as one of the sweet singers in 
our Israel, his untiring activity in his work, are 
some of the elements of his success. It is believed 
that few men in our ranks have been instrumental 
in the conversion of more souls, or in winning a 
larger number to the church than Jesse Hill. Al- 
though somewhat advanced in years, with more or 
less loss of animal spirits, a loss which age cannot 
escape, he still loves the song of triumph, and de- 
lights the people with his earnest prayers, sweet spirit, 
and apparently unflagging zeal, still doing what he 
can to promote the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

In 1858 the nearest approach to Valparaiso by 
rail was Westville, in the western part of LaPorte 
county, on the New Albany & Chicago railroad. 
But the good people of Valparaiso were equal to 
the occasion, and so, by arrangement, the preachers 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 257 

coming to Westville from every part of the confer- 
ence, were there met with carriages, buggies, and 
wagons, and were thus safely conveyed to the seat of 
the conference; and so, also, at the close of the con- 
ference, in a similar manner they were returned to the 
railroad at Westville, when each took his several 
way according to the location of his appointment. 
At that time Rev. Franklin Taylor was, or had 
been the previous year, at Westville; and, with his 
usual forecast, he arranged for a meeting on the 
evening of the return of the preachers from the 
seat of the conference. It had been announced, both 
at Valparaiso and Westville, that Brother Richard 
Hargrave would preach on the occasion, and expec- 
tation was tip-toe to hear that prince of preach- 
ers. Brother Hargrave was at his best; and, as Dr. 
Aaron Wood was next to Hargrave in age, Brother 
Taylor requested Dr. Wood to take a seat in the 
pulpit, and, after the manner of former years, exhort 
at the close of the sermon. The preachers and 
people, under the sermon, were brought up to a high 
state of spiritual fervor, and many were their ex- 
pressions of joy and gladness. Dr. Wood, though 
a very able expounder of God's word, was altogether 
of a different type and temperament from the great 
man he was then to follow. Beginning his exhorta- 
tion with coolness and deliberation, and his 
thoughts taking a philosophical trend, he gave his 
audience no little truth in philosophy and science; 
and it is presumed the Doctor himself was not 
at all surprised at the result of his cooling process 
upon his audience. In leaving the church that 
night some were chagrined, some a little provoked, 



258 INDIANA METHODISM, 

others much disappointed, but all left the church 
with soberness and quiet dignity. 

Two of the royal members of the conference 
during that year were removed to their reward in 
heaven, viz., William F. Wheeler and George W. 
Crawford. Brother Wheeler, a native of London, 
England, was born January 25, 1812. When ten 
years of age his father and family came to the 
United States and settled near Evansville, Indiana. 
William was converted under the labors of Rev. 
James Bonner, and taken into the church by Dr. E. 
G. Wood. He was admitted on trial in the Indiana 
conference at Rockville, in 1838. As circuit and 
stationed preacher, and also as presiding elder on 
the Indianapolis district, he was always useful, and 
much loved by the people. After laboring in' the 
cause of Christ for about twenty-one years, he fell 
at his post at Thorntown, Indiana, on the nth day 
of June, 1859. 

Brother Crawford died comparatively young. 
He was a native of Orange county, Indiana; con- 
verted and brought into the church in early life; ad- 
mitted on trial in the Northwest Indiana confer- 
ence in 1854; serving the church for two years at 
LaPorte, one year at the Western charge, LaFay- 
ette; one year at Crawfordsville and, in 1858, ap- 
pointed to Asbury Chapel, Terre Haute. That 
year his health failed, he was compelled to give up 
his work, and, after this short, yet brilliant and suc- 
cessful career, he died August 9, 1859. His race 
was short, but when called for by his Master he was 
ready; his last and dying words were "Glory, Glory 
to God." 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 259 

At the conference held at Greencastle, Septem- 
ber 29, 1859, with Bishop Morris in the chair, E. W. 
Lawhon, John Newhouse, J. H. Cissell, Issac W. 
Joice, and E. H. Staley were admitted on trial. 
E. W. Lawhon is still the active, laborious, and use- 
ful man of God, a character he has well sustained 
in all the years of his ministery. He is a dignified 
and instructive preacher, with perhaps less show of 
enthusiasm, but with more intellect than many 
others, — a good pastor, and always highly esteemed 
by the people among whom he labors. 

J. H. Cissell, D. D., a man of prominence and dig- 
nity, a very able preacher, has faithfully and usefully 
served the church, in the leading stations ofthe confer- 
ence, and, for a number of years, with great accept- 
ability in the responsible office of presiding elder, 
and is now a delegate elect to the General confer- 
ence of 1892. 

E. H. Staley, A. M., received his first appoint- 
ment as principal of the Battle-Ground institute; 
he afterwards successfully served as president of 
the Valparaiso Male and Female College; he is now, 
and for many years has been, an honored local 
preacher and the editor of a political paper pub- 
lished at Frankfort, Indiana. He still loves the 
church, honors her ministery, and sustains all the 
interests of the church of his early choice. 

The Minutes of that year show that J. L. Smith 
was presiding elder, with John H. Hull stationed at 
the Western charge, LaFayette, Ferris- Pierce and 
I. W. Joice preachers on Romney circuit. 

Brother Pierce was good man, a fair preacher, a 
powerful exhorter, and remarkably able in prayer. 



260 INDIANA METHODISM, 

The colleague of Brother Pierce, beginning his 
work as assistant preacher on a circuit, arid advanc- 
ing in the grade of his appointments to the presiding 
eldership and city stations, is now one of the bishops 
of the Methodist Episcopal church. Dr. Joyce was 
elected to the episcopacy in 18S8. Bishop Joice passed 
through what this writer claims to be the ideal 
school for the training of bishops. 

Rev. John H. Hull is also a bishop; not in a 
technical, but in the New Testament sense, he is a 
veritable episcopos. The author of these pages 
will ever be grateful that, in the order of divine 
providence, his lot was cast in Indiana, to become 
acquainted, and afterwards to be brought into a 
closer relationship as assistant on a circuit, with the 
the well known and renowned Brother John H. 
Hull, who, from 1838, a mere strippling then, to 
this year of grace (1892), has been a marked man 
in Indiana Methodism: with "a heart right with 
God," a sp^nteneity of good feeling toward his 
brethern, largely gifted by nature in skill and judg- 
ment, especially in the work of the Lord; with not 
many early advantages as to education, and yet 
with much natural ability, divine instinct or God- 
given intuition; it is doubted whether any man in 
Indiana has accomplished more in leading sinners 
to repentance and adding to the church such as 
shall be saved, than this go >d, and, in many ways, 
very remarkable man. With a voice like a trumpet, 
and with a»zeal that flamed through all theyears ofhis 
active ministry, he still manifests on occasion, even 
in his superannuated relation, especially at his con- 
ference sessions, many signs of his old time enthu- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 26 1 

siasm and power. He and his early colleague find 
their names now ranged side by side among those 
who have retired from the active work of the 
ministery, and it is hoped that as they loved in life 
so in their death they may not be divided. 

In 1859 the Stockwell Collegiate Institute at 
Stockwell, Indiana, and the Male and Female Col- 
lege at Valparaiso, Indiana, were founded. In Tip- 
pecanoe county, in that year, there was formed what 
was known as the Stockwell Company, consisting 
of Robert Stockwell, Moses Fowler, William Rey- 
nolds, Dr. James Courtney, Honorable Albert S. 
White, and J. L. Smith. The company erected a 
commodious structure for school purposes, in a 
beautiful grove, with a campus of sixteen to 
seventeen acres, and then transfered the whole to a 
board of trustees for the use and benefit of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. This school with 
others of kindred character flourished for a num- 
ber of years, until the State liberalized its policy in 
behalf of graded and high schools, when that, and all 
of its kind, ceased to flourish of necessity. The mem- 
bership of the church being taxed with their other fel- 
low-citizens for the support of the public schools 
could not afford to tax themselves for the support of 
denominational schools; hence most of the 
schools above-named were merged into graded 
schools under the State law. 

The Valparaiso College prospered and did great 
good in the twelve or more yearsof its active existence. 
In its incipiency the people of the town took a 
very lively interest. After a general consultation 
among the friends and patrons of education, a pub- 



262 INDIANA METHODISM, 

lie meeting was called to be held in the court-house, 
on Tuesday evening, March 25, 1859; ar *d after 
earnest speeches were delivered by S. G. Hass, John 
N. Skinner, Azariah Freeman, and J. L. Smith, 
the following gentlemen were requested to act as 
secretaries for the purpose of taking down the 
names of donors and amounts subscribed for the 
erection of a suitable college building. These per- 
sons were M. L. DeMotte, Elias Axe, Joseph 
Pierce, S. T. Cooper, and Lorenzo Freeman. At 
the close of the meeting, in footing up the sub- 
scriptions, it was found that the good people had 
manifested their interest in the enterprise by sub- 
scribing over $11,000. The officers of the first 
board of trustees were J. L. Smith, president; A. 
Freeman, vice-president; E. L. Whitcomb, sec't.; 
with Sylvester Smith, agent. 

At this writing (1892) co-education has be- 
come the rule in our best and most popular institu- 
tions of learning, but it was the exception in 1859, 
and this may account to the present generation, for 
what doubtless seems to them a peculiar name for a 
school — "Valparaiso Male and Female College." 

The first of this class of schools was the Thorn- 
town Academy. The founders of that institution, 
in 1854 and '55, had become thoroughly convinced 
that, since it was the order of nature for brothers 
and sisters to be reared in the same family, 
it was according to the true order ot 
things for them to be educated together 
in our schools of learning. At first there 
was a strong public prejudice against the new or- 
der; and it was not until years after that date, that, 







REV. S. T. COOPER. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 265 

through the persistent efforts of the friends of co-edu- 
cation, the Indiana Asbury, now DePauw, Univer- 
sity threw open its halls, admitting without distinc- 
tion of se <; all seeking the benefits of higher edu- 
c ition. In order, therefore, that the public might 
distinctly understand that the college at Valparaiso 
was not for males nor females as such, but, that it 
was an institution where all, upon the same terms, 
were entitled to all the benefits of the school, they 
gave the institution the corporate name "Male and 
Female College." 

Rev. Samuel T. Cooper was from the beginning 
not only deeply interested, but an active and a de- 
voted friend of the Valparaiso Male and Female 
College. This go:d man was for a considerable 
time pastor of the church in Valparaiso, and for 
f >ur years presiding elder on the Valparaiso Dis- 
trict ; and it is befitting, and this is thought to be 
the appropriate place, in view of his long residence 
in the city just named, that a brief sketch should 
here be given, not only of his connection with the 
institution as a friend and patron, but his life work 
as a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
At the earnest request of this writer, Brother Coop- 
er a few weeks before his death, furnished a brief 
sketch of his early life and labors, which is here 
given. 

Samuel T. Cooper, son of Rev. Samuel C. Cooper, 
was born June 11, 1824 ; joined the M. E. Church, 
being received by Dr. W. M. Daily, and bap- 
tized by Dr. Aaron Wood (both of precious memory), 
in August 1 837, and was soon after joyfully converted 
in a love-feast, on a Monday morning, while listen- 



266 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ing to the triumphant remarks of the first wife of 
Gov. Joseph A. Wright, who had been recently 
converted, and, with her honored husband, taken 
into the M. E. Church by my father. 

I spent several years at Rockville, Indiana, and 
from there was for some time a student at Indiana 
Asbury, now DePauw University. For lack of 
means to finish my studies to graduation, I went to 
LaFayette, and was employed in business by my 
lifelong friend, Hon. H. T. Sample, but having, from 
the time of my conversion, felt called to the ministry, 
though too timid to reveal this impression to any one. 
I was called out by Rev. Charles M. Holliday, presid- 
ing elder, of LaPorte district, North Indiana con- 
ference. Rev. J. B. DeMotte, having divined my 
state of mind informed Elder Holliday, and I was 
drafted into the work in the fall of 1845. My earthly 
all was a horse, saddle-bags, Bible, hymn-book, and 
discipline. Having no parchment or license, I was 
furnished with authority as follows : "This is to 
certify that Brother Samuel T. Cooper is authorized 
to take Brother Early's place for the time being, to 
preach, exhort, and lead class and prayer meetings. 
November 1, 1845, C. M. Holliday, P. E." 

After three happy months I was licensed to 
preach, and went to my original destination, "Un- 
ion Circuit," where I stayed long enough to 
make the acquaintance of a host of the 
grandest and most devoted men of God to 
be found in any country. After some days 
I was removed to succeed Rev. T. C. Hackney on 
the Valparaiso circuit, which embraced all of Porter 
county, j^ At the close of the year I was recommend- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 267 

ed and received into the North Indiana conference, 
at LaPorte ; was appointed to Roseville, with Rev. 
Nelson Green, in charge. After six months I was 
removed to Greencastle circuit, to succeed Rev. J. C. 
Robbins, who had been changed to Terre Haute, 
Rev. Wade Posey was in charge. The circuit had 
twenty-one appointments, and was a grand circuit. 

I stayed to the close of the year, and was reap- 
pointed, Rev. Hezekiah Smith, in charge. 

This was a year of great revivals and additions to 
the church. A great work of salvation occurred 
under the labors of such eminent men as President 
Matthew Simpson, Prof C. Nutt, Dr. A. Wood, W. 
H. Goode, and others. 

At a camp-meeting near Walnut chapel convic- 
tion for sin, deep and awful, seemed to have seized 
the vast multitudes in attendance. One meeting, 
opened in a tent in the early morning, lasted till the 
lamps were lighted at night, with at least one hun- 
dred conversions. Many young men were saved, 
entered the ministry later, and the strange fact of 
several persons losing the power to move, lasting 
many hours, was witnessed. 

In the fall of 1848 I was sent to Terre Haute, to 
found a second church. The available point was 
the northern portion of the town, then the most 
prosperous and promising part of the place. Forty 
years have made great changes, which could not 
be foreseen ; but in the good judgment of Dr. W. H 
Goode, and others, it was then thought to be wise 
to locate the church in that part of the town. The 
beginning of our services was at the home of Broth- 
er and Sister Anderson. Sister Anderson was the 



268 INDIANA METHODISM, 

aunt of Rev. H. A. Gobin, D. D , and was a most 
devoted Christian woman, than whom there was 
not a greater spiritual force in that country. At 
once the Sibley Bros., John and Sylvester, Calvin 
Gobin, the honored father of Dr. H. A. Gobin, Jona- 
than Rockwell, and others, united to buy lots, and 
commenced the erection of a house to be used for a 
church until a permanent building should beerected, 
and then the first to become a parsonage. This 
church was built, paid for, and dedicated by W. H. 
Goode, presiding elder, on Christmas day. The 
dedication was followed by a great revival and re- 
joicing of the people, which continued till confer- 
ence, when the pastor left a church which was self- 
supporting for many years, and at one time number- 
ing within fifty of as many members as Asbury, the 
mother church. 

On the west side of the river was a territory which 
had been supplied from Illinois, but the General 
conference had made the State line the boundary. 
Exploring, I found two unfinished churches and about 
thirty members who were reluctant to give up old 
pastors ; but W. B. and Pleasant Rippetoe, Henry 
and David Smith, and others, were too loyal to give 
me trouble. 

At the quarterly meeting in November a revival 
ofwonderous power commenced. Elder Goode 
sent me to town on Monday to keep the church 
building going ; for it had a habit of stopping as 
soon as the preacher was out of town. The presid- 
ing elder stayed in the country until Tuesday, and 
thought the meeting closed, but after he was gone, 
the people came together, and, though without a 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 269 

leader, souls were converted at every meeting-. On 
Sunday David Smith came to tell the preacher that 
they could not stop the meeting ; so he went to 
them, and it was indeed a time of power. The re- 
vival spread over the entire country to the river and 
resulted in the finishing of the two churches and the 
building of three new ones, leaving two hundred 
fifty-two members and a good circuit, which 
continues to this day. 

ASBURY, NOW FLETCHER PLACE, INDIANAPOLIS. 

In the fall of 1849 I was appointed to a mission 
charge in connection with the Indianapolis dis- 
trict, North Indiana conference. Rev. J. H. Hull 
was at Robert's chapel, Rev. W. H. Goode, presid- 
ing elder. We came to the city together by horse 
power. I attended Robert's chapel in the morning 
and at night. Opened my work preaching at Broth- 
er Hughey's private residence on the hill near the 
Fletcher place, with a congregation of eight 
persons. Brother and Sister Hughey and 
daughter, Calvin Fletcher and wife, and three others 
composed the congregation. The meetings were 
continued here another Sunday, when they were 
moved to a small wooden school-house (afterwards 
bought for a class and infant school room), which 
was quickly filled to overflowing with people, for 
the spirit of revival was at once developed. We 
soon again removed to Madison depot, and were 
given an upper room about 15x16 feet, which was 
furnished with a pulpit and seats suited to the size 
of the basement of our future church. In this room 
we had one hundred or more conversions, and gath- 



270 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ered a large Sunday-school. Many times our meet- 
ings were furnished with music by the trains run- 
ning under us, for this was the capital depot of the 
only railroad in Indiana. 

There were about fifteen thousand people sepa- 
rated from the city by the valley of Pouges Run, 
who generally rallied around our infant church. 
We took steps at once to buy a lot for a church. 
Brother Fletcher giving one hundred and sixty acres 
of land towards it, the balance was raised in small 
amounts, and the ground secured. 

During the winter we were engaged in revival 
meetings, taking in a school-house on the Michigan 
road and one near where Irvington is now located. 
Our membership grew rapidly, so that the $100 of 
missionary money for each of the two years 
was returned untouched, The people with the 
help of John Wilkins, Samuel Beck, John Dickinson, 
and others gave me free and pleasant entertainment, 
and such support as a single preacher was supposed 
at that time to need. In the spring of 1850a church 
was built, and the money raised by subscription ; 
nearly everything being done by the preacher. W. 
L. Wingate, Samuel Seybert, Samuel Daniel, Cal- 
vin Fletcher and John Dickinson were the first trus- 
tees. The money was collected by the preacher, 
and the workmen paid weekly ; and in the fall of 
1850 I was returned for a second year, and we en- 
tered the basement of the new church, called "As- 
bury Chapel." 

During that fall we encountered the plague of 
Asiatic cholera, losing many of our best and bright- 
est members. Many houses lost every inhabitant. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 27 1 

Some squares were almost entirely deserted, and 
houses nailed up. This afforded some of our mem- 
bers work day and night, administering to the sick 
and dying, and laying away the dead. Many thrill- 
ing scenes were witnessed, which eternity alone 
will fully explain. 

At the close of the conference year we had a large 
Sunday school, eight class-meetings, with one hun- 
dred and seventy-three members. During the two 
years we had almost a continuous revival, so that, 
besides providing for the great loss by cholera, we 
left the two churches, Roberts and Asbury, strong in 
membership, with a good record in benevolences, 
and, as we had labored, loved and suffered together, 
so we parted to other fields and vocations. During 
the ensuing year I accepted the kind invitation of 
the trustees, through our Honored Dr. S. T. Gillett, 
to attend the dedication of the church. Rev. Elijah 
Whitten preached in the morning, and the writer in 
the evening. Time and space forbids mention of 
the many stirring memories rising out of my former 
associations with the good people of what is now 
known as "Fletcher Place Church." 

In the fall of 1854 I was stationed at Robert's 
chapel, Indianapolis, North Indiana conference, 
Rev. J. H. Hull, presiding elder. Our year was a 
very pleasant one ; the church was well organized, 
and deeply spiritual. Prayer-meetings were very 
large, the classes were also well attended. 

During the year we were favored with an exten- 
sive revival, which was peculiar in the fact that we 
had scarcely any preaching except at the regular 
services on the Sabbath ; but we had an array of 



272 INDIANA METHODISM, 

spirtual men and women, who, either in prayer or 
testimony, brought the meeting to the favorable 
moment of altar service, and we had a large addi- 
tion to the membership. 

There were ten or twelve notable intemperate 
men, of influence and wealth, who professed to be 
converted, which electrified the city ; and though 
making a brilliant start, if any one of them continued 
faithful, I never new the fact. This and other in- 
stances show sadly how little we can expect as a 
permanent result, from mere reformatory efforts in 
this line, without true Scriptural conversion. It was 
during this year that the little wooden residence on 
the alley was superceeded by a commodious brick 
parsonage. 

John Wilkin and wife, Lydia Havves, Willis 
Wright and wife, Frederick and Mrs. Baggs, Dr. 
Abbott, Joshua Langsdale, and a host of others are 
names never to be forgotten. 

The conversion of Joshua Langsdale was in sev- 
eral respects peculiar. During the pastorate at 
Robert's chapel of Dr. J. L. Smith, Mr. Langsdale 
kept a saloon on Washington street. Somehow he 
became interested in, and frequently attended, the 
public service at Robert's chapel. The pastor be- 
came satisfied that Mr. L. was becoming deeply 
concerned for the salvation of his soul. Mr. L. en- 
deavored to evade the preacher ; but John L.Smith, 
for it was like him to do, sought every opportunity for 
even a brief word with the awakened sinner in order 
to lead him to Christ. On one occasion, as Dr. 
Smith was walking down the street, he saw Mr. L. 
coming from the other direction, but Mr. L., not 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 273 

wishing to meet the preacher dodged into his saloon, 
feeling, doubtless, that he was there secure. Noth- 
ing daunted, the preacher immediately followed, 
and, there in the saloon, persisted in his effort to 
bring the man to a sense of his lost condition, and 
extorted a promise from the saloon keeper that he 
would come to prayer-meeting on the next Wednes- 
day night. A terrible conflict was going on in the 
mind of Mr. L. between giving up his business and 
saving his soul, or loosing his soul and continuing 
in a business which he himself loathed in his very 
heart. This occurred near the close of Dr. Smith's 
second year in charge of Robert's chapel, but the 
former pastor was made happy in learning, at the 
very beginning of the succeeding year, that the man 
had quit the saloon business, made restitution so far as 
possible to those whom he had injured, and was sound- 
ly converted to God, under the pastoral care of Rev. 
S. T. Gillette. Dr. Gillette soon appointed Brother 
Langsdale as class-leader, which office he held forty 
years, and, in March, 1891, closed his earthly labors 
in triumph, to find a home in heaven. 

May the pillar of cloud and of fire never leave this 
wonderful church. 

S. T. Cooper, 

St. Joseph, Mich. 

The delegates elected in 1859 to the General con- 
ference were John L. Smith, Jacob M. Stallard, 
Richard Hargrave, and James Johnson. The Gen- 
eral conference for i860 was held in the city of Buf- 
falo, N. Y. At this conference slavery was the lead- 
ing question, taking precedence of all other sub- 
jects. Calvin W. Kingsley, afterwards bishop, 



274 INDIANA METHODISM, 

seemed to be the leading spirit in the animated, not 
to say heated, debates on the absorbing question. 

The Episcopal board at that time stood thus : T. 
A. Morris, E. S. Janes, L. Scott, M. Simpson, O. C. 
Baker, and E. R. Ames. The thought was enter- 
tained by many that, at this conference, at least two 
additional bishops would be elected ; and so there 
seemed to be an agreement that one of these should 
be taken from New Jersey and the other from In- 
diana. The committee on episcopacy, however, to 
the great surprise of many members of the body, re- 
ported the following : "Resolved, That it is inex- 
pedient to elect any bishops at the present time." 
This resolution, as it is now remembered, was adopt- 
by a bare majority of one or two votes, and of course 
the episcopal bee ceased at once to buzz in any- 
body's bonnet. 

According to custom the writer of these pages was 
entitled to a place on the episcopal committee, 
which he voluntarily and willingly awarded to his 
senior in the ministry, Rev. Jacob M. Stallard, who 
was then in the fullness of his strength, and one of 
the leading preachers of the conference. Brother 
Stallard gave the church many long years of faithful 
and efficient service. These several years he has 
been on the superannuate list. He resides in the 
city of LaFayette, loved and honored by his breth- 
ren and friends as a man of God, patiently waiting 
the summons to his exceeding great reward. 

James Johnson entered the ministry at the session 
of the North Indiana conference at Ft. Wayne in 
1844, an d performed forty years of active and suc- 
cessful labor in the ministry. After laboring for a 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 275 

number of years on circuits, he was stationed, in 1850, 
at Cambridge City, afterwards at South Bend and 
other points of importance. For a number of years 
he served the church as presiding elder. Every- 
where he was loved and honored for his sweet Chris- 
tian spirit, genial and brotherly bearing, and effect- 
iveness as a preacher. At the Northwest Indiana 
conference of 1884 he asked to be placed on the su- 
perannuated list, closing then his active labors, and 
soon after, viz., on November 11, 1884, he fell asleep 
in Jesus, and gained his long sought rest among the 
saved above. 

During the year i860, after long and useful lives, 
Thomas J. Brown and William Campbell were called 
by the Head of the church from labor to reward. 

Brother Brown commenced his labors as a travel- 
ing preacher in the Tenneessee conference in 1822, 
He emigrated to Indiana in 183 1, and was transfered 
from the Tennessee to the Illinois conference in 
1832. The last-named conference included at that 
time a large portion of the State of Indiana. He 
was an able preacher, very circumspect in his walk 
and conversation, thought at sometimes to be some- 
what severe in denouncing the ways of the wicked. 
After faithfully serving on many hard circuits, togeth- 
er with Crawfordsville district as presiding elder, he 
was superannuated in 1842 ; after resting a year or 
two he was again placed on the effective list, and 
was again superannuated in 1855. He died in peace 
at his own home on the 8th day of June, f 860, leav- 
ing no family but his wife. At her death, accord- 
ing to the will of both husband and wife, the farm 
on which they lived and died, the land having been 



276 INDIANA METHODISM, 

entered by Brother Brown as government land, was 
conveyed as a free gift to the missionary society of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Rev. William Campbell was born in Warren coun- 
ty, Ohio, August 21, 1810. He came with his father's 
family to Indiana in 1826, and settled in Fountain 
county in 1832. He made a visit to the old home 
on the Little Miama river in Ohio, and, at the cele- 
brated "Clear Spring" camp-meeting, was soundly 
converted to God on the 20th day of August, 1832. 
Brother Campbell was a man of God, and after long 
years of faithful and useful service, filling many im- 
portant appointments, he sweetly passed away at 
his home in Thorntown, June 4, i860. The vener- 
able James L Thompson assisted by Rev. Joseph 
White, Brother Campbell's old friends aad fellow- 
laborers, performed the last funeral rites, and his 
remaines were tenderly laid away near Asbury 
chapel in Montgomery county, Indiana. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
GENERAL CONFERENCE 1864 — PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 

The conference in i860 was held by Bishop Simp- 
son, at Terre Haute, beginning October 11. Among 
those admitted on trial were Oliver C. Haskell, John 
L. Boyd, and B. W. Smith. 

Brother Haskell is one among the best men in the 
conference ; he is an able preacher, a conscientious 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 277 

Christian gentleman, much loved by his people, 
faithful and successful in his work. 

Brother J. L. Boyd, lithe, sprightly, very neat and 
genteel in his personal appearance ; traveled for a 
number of years ; a man of no mean ability in the 
pulpit ; very sociable and agreeable among his peo- 
ple; did good work wherever he went; a few years 
ago went to Kansas with the understanding, on his 
part, that he was to be transferred and stationed at 
Wichita; but, for some reason, perhaps some mis- 
understanding between the presiding elder and the 
bishop, he was not transferred. At the next session 
of the conference his relation was changed from the 
effective to supernumerary; since which time he 
has removed to Denver, Colorado. This clever 
and kind-hearted brother is a son of our late lament- 
ed Rev. George M. Boyd, D. D. 

Rev. B. W. Smith, A. M., D D , a graduate of 
Asbury, now DePauw University, was for a num- 
ber of years engaged in educational work, first in 
Cornell University, Iowa, and afterwards for quite 
a time, as president of the Valparaiso College. B. 
Wilson Smith is one of the manly men — a man of 
character and high intellect; he is a man who loves 
his friends, and doesn't forget them. After being 
stationed at Monticello, Centnary Church, Terre 
Haute, and other important points, he was pressed 
into service by his friends, and served for several 
terms in the State legislature. His name has been 
frequently mentioned for the congress of the Uni- 
ted States. He is an interesting lecturer on moral, 
literary, and religious subjects — an able pulpit ora- 
tor; and, in short, he is every inch a man. He is 



2y8 INDIANA METHODISM, 

now, and for some time has been, the popular post- 
master of the city of LaFayette; he is the superinten- 
dent of the Trinity Church Sunday-school; and is ever 
ready for every good word and work. His honored 
father, Able T. Smith, of White county, Indiana, 
was one of nature's noblemen, and his no less noble 
sons have shown themselves to be worthy of such a 
father. 

The LaFayette District that year stoDd as fol- 
lows : 

J. L. Smith, Presiding Elder; Lafayette — Fifth 
Street, W. Graham; Ninth Street, J. R. Eddy; La- 
Fayette Circuit, T. C. Stringer; Romney, F. Pierce, 
W. R. Mikels; Crawfordsville Station, C. Skinner; 
Battle Ground Station, J. H. Hull; Battle Ground 
Circuit, G. Guild; Stockwell, J. W. Greene; Clark's 
Hill, H. O. Huffman, E. H. Staley, Principal, and G. 
VV. Rice Professor in the Battle Ground Institute — 
members of the Battle Ground Quarterly Conference. 

Dr. Graham is an able preacher, and, in the years 
of his active service, was an untiring worker. 
Whatever the church gave him to do, he did it well. 
Always the same faithful, diligent pastor, whether 
in charge of a circuit, station or district. He has 
been stationed in several of the leading cities of the 
conference. He is an excellent financier, and has 
accumulated some property without in any way 
neglecting his ministerial work. Beginning in 1878 
he was for several years a member of the board of 
trustees of DePauw University. He is not now en- 
gaged in the active work of the ministry, but is doing 
good service for the church as agent of the Preach- 
er's Aid Society. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 279 

Brother Clark Skinner has somehow a 1 ways been 
a favorite, — highly esteemed both by his brethern 
in the ministry and by the laity of the church 
generally. He, too, has served in important posi- 
tions as stationed preacher and presiding elder; is a 
good preacher, a man of sterling common sense, a 
genial companion; now retired and living in com- 
fort with his family at South Bend. 

Rev. George Guild was a man of faithfulness and 
large success in his work all through the years of 
his active ministry; but, for a number of years be- 
fore his death, his name stood on the superannuated 
list. His good wife, a sister of Rev. John H. Hull, 
yet lingers, but is steadily looking forward to the 
reunion with the loved and blessed. Three of their 
noble sons are following the footsteps of their 
honored father in the Master's work. And good 
Brother George Guild will doubtless have many 
stars in the crown of his rejoicing. 

In 1861 the conference was held in South Bend, 
beginning October 10, Bishop Simpson presiding at 
this conference also. Among those admitted in 
1861 were S. M. Hayes, LaFayette S. Buckles, 
John H. Cissel, and O. H. Smith. 

Brother Hayes is still in active work in the con- 
ference; a good man and a good preacher; loves the 
church; devoted to his friends, and successful in the 
work; he still enjoys good health and is destined, if 
his life be spared, to perform yet, many years of ac- 
tive service. 

Rev. LaFayette S. Buckles, who has traveled a 
number of years with acceptability and usefulness, 
is now on the list of supernumerary preachers, 



28o INDIANA METHODISM, 

living with his family in Thorntown. In his active 
ministry, with his ability as a preacher, and 
superior gifts as an exhorter, and power in prayer, 
he never failed in his work, but glorious revivals of 
religion attended in almost every pastoral charge 
where he led in the work of the Lord. 

The outbreak, during this year, of the Rebellion 
in the Southern states caused a number of the 
preachers of the conference either to enlist in be- 
half of the Union in the private ranks or to go as 
chaplains. 

At this time O. H. Smith was principal of the 
Thorntown academy; G. W. Rice, principal of the 
New Carlisle seminary; C N. Sims, president of the 
Valparaiso college: in the army were N. L. Brake- 
man, chaplain of the 21st Ind.; T. E. Webb, chap- 
lain of the 14th Ind.; H. O. Hoffman, chaplain of 
the 17th Ind.; J. C. Reed, chaplain of the 29th 
Ind. 

Necessarily in the examination of character, and 
very naturally, the question came up at this session, 
to-wit, what action should be taken in the case of 
brethern who had left their work and gone into the 
army. A distinguished minister, one occupying a 
very high position in the church was among the 
visitors attending the conference. As soon as the 
question was called by Bishop Simpson, the Rev. 
Gentleman just alluded to, commenced to speak 
about in these words; "You ask what you will do 
with these men, and there is nothing to do but one 
thing," he continued, "locate them, every one of 
them." Then taking a discipline from his pocket, 
he read to the bishop and conference what the 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 28l 

church laws said, concerning the preacher who- 
should leave his work, etc.; adding, "The very least 
you can do, brethern, of the conference, is to locate 
these men, and teach them a lesson." The writer 
caught the trend of this remarkable speech from the 
first sentence of the speaker, and at once began to 
formulate a preamble and resolutions for the con- 
sideration of the conference. 

As soon therefore as the distinguished brother 
took his seat something like the following was at 
once presented: "Whereas, A. B. C. D. and E., 
members of this conference, have gone at their 
country's call, to bare their bosoms to the battle's 
storm, to protect the flag of the Union, and our 
homes and firesides as well, and 

"Whereas, In this, the hour of our great peril, it is 
the duty of every American citizen, in the pure spirit: 
of patriotism, to do all in his power to preserve in- 
tact our undivided country, therefore, 

"Resolved, That, should our beloved brethern, who 
are now either as private soldiers or chaplains in 
the army, be permitted, in the good providence of God 
to return to their homes and families, we will receive 
them with open arms and welcome them back to- 
their appropriate fields of labor in this conference." 
He then added, "Our friend has read from the 
Discipline, but he has not read all of the paragraph 
bearing on these cases. The closing words 

of the paragraph are: "Nevertheless, the final 
determination, in all such cases, shall be with 
the Annual conference !" By this time the 
preachers and people were cheering all over the 
house; for they could readily "intuitize," as Dr. 



282 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Wheedon, would say, a degree of sympathy with 
the rebellion in the speech he was thus answering. 

Bishop Scott held the conference at LaFayette 
which commenced October 9, 1862 with J. C. Reed, 
Secretary. Brethern admitted on trial at this con- 
ference were Russell D. Utter, Thomas Meredith, 
Henry G. Jackson, and Samuel Godfrey, re- 
admitted. 

Brother Meredith, now in the full vigor of his 
noble manhood, has served a number of our better- 
class stations. He is a unique and interesting 
preacher. As a church-builder few can excel or 
even equal him. The magnificent house of worship 
at Brazil is one of his monuments. He served a full 
term as presiding elder on the Frankfort district. 
His praise is in all the churches where he has labored. 

Rev. Henry G.Jackson, D. D., now one of the pre- 
siding elders in Chicago, has had a remarkable 
career; he is an alumnus of Asbury, now DePauw 
University; but was elected during his senior year 
in college to the principalship of the Thorntown 
Academy; and from there called to the Stockwell 
Collegiate Institute; and at the close of the war 
was appointed by Bishop Ames as missionary in 
the city of New Orleans. For further account of 
Dr. Jackson, see Appendix, page . 

At the conference of 1862 Dr. Godfrey was 
stationed at Ninth-st. Church, LaFayette. In the 
spring of that year, at the close of the session of the 
North Indiana conference, held in Ft. Wayne, 
Bishop Simpson, transferred Rev. Dr. J. W. T. Mc- 
Mullen to the Northwest Indiana conference. Dr. 
McMullen filled a vacancy at Delphi until the meet- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 283 

ing of the Northwest Indiana conference, when he 
was stationed at the Fifth street Church, Lafayette. 
With Dr. Godfrey in one church and Dr. McMullen 
in the other, it is no disparagement of other preach- 
ers to say that no two men of superior brilliancy 
and eloquence ever graced the pulpits of that city. 

The appointments that year in the Terre Haute 
district were in part as follows: 

J. L. Smith, Presiding Elder; Terre Haute, G. M. 
Boyd; Terre Haute Circuit, Thomas Bartlett; Green- 
castle, T. S. Webb; Belmore, Daniel DeMotte. 

Early in 1862, this writer was appointed by Pres- 
ident Lincoln, collector of Internal Revenue, with 
headquarters at LaFayette; and for that year, be- 
ginning in the fall, in addition to his work as pre- 
siding elder, he had the supervision of the revenue 
business by appointment of the president. There 
were twelve pastoral charges in his presiding elder's 
district and seven counties in the collection dis- 
trict. In each of these seven counties the collector 
appointed a deputy, and, at the principal office in 
LaFayette, a deputy and book-keeper. The dis- 
trict stewards met that year at Rockville for the 
purpose of fixing the presiding elder's salary; and 
proceeding without any hint from the presiding 
elder as to what in his judgment the salary ought 
to be, they agreed on the sum of twelve hundred 
dollars. The presiding elder then said to the 
brethern: "Waited down, as I am, with more than 
the double work of presiding elder and revenue col- 
lector it will be impossible for me to give full time 
to the work of the district. I do not expect to be 
absent from any quarterly meeting or quarterly 



284 INDIANA METHODISM, 

conference in consequence of my work as collector; 
and yet I feel that one-fourth of my time, at least 
during the week, will be absolutely necessary in 
looking after my work as collector of internal reve- 
nue. I therefore request it of you, as a personal 
favor to myself, that you will deduct twenty-five 
per cent, from the amount which you have so gen- 
erously fixed as salary for the presiding elder." 
And, it may be added, the good brethern were 
not long in making the figures by which the 
salary was fixed at nine hundred in place of twelve 
hundred. 

The preachers on the Terre Haute district that 
year were faithful and true in their labors. Brother 
Boyd at Terre Haute station had an exceedingly 
pleasant and prosperous year. Not only in Terre 
Haute, but, almost all over the district, there were 
gracious revivals, and many souls were won to 
Christ and his Church. 

Having been requested by letter, both from Bishop 
Simpson and my old friend and family physician, 
Dr. John Evans, of Denver, now ex-governor of 
Colorado, to meet them at the session of the North 
Indiana conference at Fort Wayne, this writer was 
prompt to obey the summons. The following plan, he 
was informed, had been agreed upon by the bishop 
and Dr. Evans, who had just been appointed terri- 
torial governor of Colorado, to wit, that J. L. 
Smith should be appointed superintendent of mis- 
sions in the Colorado country by the bishop, that 
he should settle with Dr. Evans in Denver, and by 
appointment of the new governor, become secretary 
of State. The doctor insisted that there would be no 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 285 

difficulty in having the work of the secretary's 
office done by a deputy, so as not to hinder the 
evangelistic services of the superintendent of mis- 
sions. This seemed very plausible; but when the 
husband and father returned to his home in Stock- 
well, full of the idea of going West, and laid the 
plan with a degree of minuteness before his wife, 
she replied: "The matter does not strike me at all 
favorably. Our daughters, who will very soon be 
young ladies, are now in a good school here, a 
school that has cost us a good deal of money; to 
pull up and move, and break up the education of 
the girls, and go out to that wild country, for the 
most part filled up with adventurers, renegades, and 
gamblers, will never do. Don't you know that girls 
will marry in the society or social grade of the 
people among whom they live? Now to take our 
daughters out of school, and run the risk of their 
marrying beneath themselves, throwing themselves 
away it may be, and lowering our family in social 
and churchly position, — for such a misfortune 
as might thus come upon us, all the gold and silver 
in the mines of Colorado would be no recompense." 

Thinking over the matter a few days, and remem- 
bering that a celebrated author had somewhere said, 
"It is always safe for a man to take the advice of a 
good woman;" and, as the wife so persistently adv's- 
ed,the contemplated missionary superintendent and 
secretary of State decided to remain in Indiana, in- 
forming both the doctor and the bishop of his de- 
clinature of tie positions offered him. 

The senior bishop, Thomas A. Morris, held the 
session of the Northwest Indiana conference in 



286 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Michigan City, beginning Sept. 30, 1863. Two 
brethern admitted on trial at this conference still 
remain among us, having, each of them, made 
an honorable record during the almost thirty years 
past. These two brethern, higly respected and 
much loved, are Reubin H. Sanders and Samuel P. 
Colvin. The former is now stationed at Door 
Village, the latter at Plymouth, the seat of justice 
for Marshall county. 

Brother Sanders is a good man and able minister,, 
esteemed by his people, and always successful in 
his work. He was prominently spoken of at the 
last conference as a suitable man to be placed on 
one of the districts as presiding elder. 

Brother Colvin is generally known as the church 
lawyer of the conference. Woe be to the man that 
preaches heretical doctrines, especially if he should 
chance to fall into the polemical clutches of S. P.. 
Colvin. Brother Colvin commenced his work on 
Clinton circuit, and, from the beginning, was a 
marked man. He has been occupied for a number 
of years in stations; was for four years presiding 
elder of the Greencastle district; and, before going 
to Plymouth, his present field of labor, he served a 
full term of five years in LaPorte station. For fur- 
ther notice of the commanding ability and general 
usefulness of this good brother, see Appendix, 
page . 

The delegates elected to the General conference 
were Aaron Wood, George M. Boyd, Jacob 
M. Stallard and John L. Smith. The Gen- 
eral conference of 1864 met in the city of Phila- 
delphia, Pa., on the 2d day of May, — the month of 



. SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 28/ 

May that year, beginning on Sunday, as it will also 
this year, 1892. Bishops present, Thomas A. Mor- 
ris, Edmund S. Janes, Levi Scott, Mathew Simpson, 
Osman C. Baker, and Edward R. Ames. At nine 
o'clock Bishop Janes called the conference to order 
and Bishop Morris conducted the opening religious 
services, consisting of reading the 84 Psalm, singing 
the 219th hymn and prayer; Bishop Janes continued 
the religious service by using the latter part of the 
20th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, and the 
237th hymn. The hymn having been sung, George 
Peck and Charles Elliott led the devotions of the 
conference in prayer. Dr. Aaron Wood, who led 
the Northwest Indiana delegation, had been a dele- 
gate to the General conference of 1844. an d had 
voted in favor of the notorious "plan of separation." 
This vote his brethern regarded as a great blunder, 
and were just twenty years in pardoning his mistake. 
But time, it is said, makes all things even; so now, 
for the second time in his life, the grand old man 
was placed at the head of his delegation. 

The great scheme of church extention was origi- 
nated, and, in a degree, perfected, at this confer- 
ence. Rev. Dr. S. Y. Monroe became the first sec- 
retary of the society; but in a few short months 
after he entered upon the duties of his office, he 
lost his valuable life by falling off the cars between 
Newark, N. J. and New York City. 

The committee on the state of the country, 
Joseph Cummings, chairman, and Granville Moody, 
secretary, formulated, and reported to the confer- 
ence, an address to the president of the United 
States, which was unanimously adopted. On the 14th 



288 INDIANA METHODISM, 

day of Maya committee was appointed to present 
this address to the president, a committee consist- 
ing of Bishop Edward R. Ames, Rev. Dr. Joseph 
Cummings, Rev. Dr. George Peck, Rev. Dr. Charles 
Elliott, and Rev. Dr. Granville Moody. The com- 
mittee proceeded to Washington, and presented 
the address, which was as follows : 

TO HIS EXCELLENCY ABRAHAM LINCOLN, PRESIDENT 

OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The General conference of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, now in session in the city of Phila- 
delphia, representing nearly seven thousand minis- 
ters and nearly a million members, mindful of their 
duty as Christian citizens, takes the earliest oppor- 
tunity to express to you the assurance of the loyalty 
of the church, her earnest devotions to the interests 
of the country, and her sympathy with you in the 
great responsibilities of your high position in this 
trying hour. 

With exultation we point to the record of our 
church as having never been tarnished by disloyalty. 
She was the first of the churches to express, by a 
deputation of her most distinguished ministers, the 
promise of support to the government in the days 
of Washington. In her Articles of Religion she 
has enjoined loyalty as a duty, and has ever given 
to the government her most decided support. 

In this present struggle for the nation's life many 
thousands of her members, and a large number of 
her ministers, have rushed to arms to maintain the 
cause of God and humanity. They have sealed 
their devotion to their country with their blood on 



SKETCHES' AND INCIDENTS. 289 

every battle-field of this terrible war. 

We regard this dreadful scourge now desolating 
our land and wasting the nation's life as the result 
of a most unnatural, utterly unjustifiable rebellion, 
involving the crime of treason against the best of 
human governments and sin against God. It re- 
quired our government to submit to its own dis- 
memberment and distruction, leaving it no alterna- 
tive but to preserve the national integrity by the 
use of the national resources. If the government 
had failed to use its power to preserve the unity of 
the nation and maintain its authority it would have 
been justly exposed to the wrath of heaven, and to 
the reproach and scorn of the civilized world. 

Our earnest and constant prayer is, that this cruel 
and wicked rebellion may be speedily supressed ; 
and we pledge you our hearty co-operation in all 
appropriate means to secure this object. 

Loyal and hopeful in national adversity, in pros- 
perity thankful, we most heartily congratulate you 
on the glorious victories recently gained, and re- 
joice in the belief that our complete triumph is 
near. 

We believe that our national sorrows and calam- 
ities have resulted in a great degree from our for- 
getfulness of God and oppression of our fellow-men. 
Chastened by affliction, may the nation humbly re- 
pent of her sins, lay aside her hauty pride, honor 
God in all future legislation, and render justice to 
all who have been wronged. 

We honor you for your proclamations of liberty, 
and rejoice in all the acts of the government de- 
signed to secure freedom to the enslaved. 



29O INDIANA METHODISM, 

We trust that when military usages and necessi- 
ties shall justify interference with established insti- 
tutions, and the removal of wrongs sanctioned by 
law, the occasion will be improved, not merely to 
injure our foes and increase the national resources, 
but also as an opportunity to recognize our obliga- 
tions to God and to honor his law. We pray that 
the time may speedily come when this shall be truly 
a republican and free country, in no part of which, 
either state or territory, shall slavery be known. 

The prayers of millions of Christians, with an earn- 
estness never manifested for rulers before, daily as- 
cend to heaven that you may be endued with all 
needed wisdom and power. Actuated by the senti- 
ments of the loftiest and purest patriotism, our 
prayer shall be continually for the preservation of 
our country undivided, for the triumph of our cause, 
and for a permanent peace, gained by the sacrifice 
of no moral principles, but founded on the word of 
God, and securing in righteousness liberty and 
equal rights to all. 

Signed in behalf of the General conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Respectfully submitted, 

Joseph Cummings, 

Chairman. 
Philadelphia, May 14, 1864. 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S REPLY TO THE ADDRESS. 

Gentlemen, — In response to your address allow 
me to attest the accuracy of its historial statements; 
indorse the sentiments it expresses ; and thank you, 
in the nation's name, for the sure promise it gives. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 29 1 

Nobly sustained as the government has been by 
all the churches, I Mould utter nothing which might, 
in the least, appear invidious against any. Yet, 
without this, it may fairly be said that the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, not lessdevoted than the best, 
is, by its greater numbers, the most important of all. 
It is no fault in others that the Methodist church 
sends more soldiers to the field, more nurses to the 
hospitals, and more prayers to heaven than any. 
God bless the Methodist church — bless all the 
churches — and blessed be God, who, in this our great 
trial, giveth us the churches. 

[Signed.] A. Lincoln. 

May 1 8th, 1864. 

At the close of the reading of the president's re- 
ply the conference at once adopted a motion direct- 
ing the book agents at New York to have the paper 
lithograped so as to make it possible that each 
member of the body might obtain a copy. As soon 
as the motion was passed, this writer walked over 
to where Dr. Carlton, the chief book agent was 
seated, and asked the agent this question : "Will 
lithographing the paper mar or injure it in any 
way ?" "Not necessarily," replied the Dr. "Then,' 
said the enquirer, "Dr. Carlton, I want you, now and 
here, upon the honor of a Christian gentleman and a 
beloved brother, to promise me that, if this paper of 
the President's shall not be injured in any way in 
the process of lithographing, you will send to me, 
the original, signed by the president's own hand." 
"I will do it," said the Dr. ; and it is believed that he 
kept his word ; and to-day, as this writer verily be- 



292 INDIANA METHODISM, 

lieves, the original, in a neat frame, hangs in his 
study. 

More than a hundred citizens from Indiana tem- 
porarily residing in Washington City as clerks, etc., 
in the different departments, joined in a request to 
Bishop Simpson to come to Washington and preach in 
the Capitol on a certain Sunday during a session of 
the General conference. The bishop accepted the in- 
vitation, and, at his earnest request, the author of 
these pages accompanied him. The journey was 
made on Friday evening, and the Saturday was 
largely spent in visiting some of the more interest- 
ing places of the city. On Saturday afternoon, as 
the custom then was and possibly is now, what was 
known as the Marine band entertained the people 
with music on the grounds at the rear of the White 
House. As the people gathered at the appointed 
hour and enjoyed the music of the notable band it 
was observed that the President and his family had 
taken their position on the second floor of the 
piazza, which was surrounded by a railing so high 
that few of the family could be seen, excepting the 
president from his shoulders upward. The enter- 
tainment lasted ab:>ut three hours ; when all 
was over the people still seemed loathe to leave the 
grounds, and no one seemed to know exactly what 
to do with himself. This writer, being near to a 
man that seemed to be of distinction, said : "Would 
you not call out the president to speak a fe.w words 
to us ?" to which he replied, with a look of scorn and 
contempt, u No sir ; such a thing would be impudent 
and boorish." Very soon a gentleman was spoken 
to, and from his shoulder straps was taken to be a 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 293 

general in the army, to whom the young man from 
Indiana plied the same question with a little varia- 
tion in the language, saying : "Sir, you seem to be 
a man of authority, suppose you invite the president 
to stand up and give us a little speech." To which 
he replied : "I could not think of such a thing, sir." 
At this the visitor from Indiana walked forward to 
within about thirty paces of where the president sat 
and said in a voice that all could hear,"Mr.Lincoln you 
have a great many friends in this crowd from Ind ana 
and Illinois; would you be kind enoug'i to speak a 
word to your fellow-citizens for their encourage- 
ment at this time of peril to the nation ?" The pres- 
ident immediately arose, and, stretching himself up to 
the highest point possible, he said : "There are no 
people on the face of the earth that I would rather 
see, and whom I love more than the people of In- 
diana and Illinois ; I have a speech to make and it is 
this,' (then taking his handkerchief and swinging it 
around his head, he cried out), "Three cheers for 
General Grant and the Union army !" Five thous- 
and people responded with a will ; but, before the 
cheering was over, the president had left the porch 
and all was quiet again. Then the man who had 
first been requested to call out the president came 
up and said to the Hoosier : "Where are you from ?'■ 
to which the answer was made, "I am from Indiana, 
sir, where would you suppose I was from ?" "Did you 
ever undertake to do anything in your life that you 
didn't do ?" "Yes," said the Hoosier, "I always fail 
when I undertake to do an impossible thing.a thing I 
rarely undertake however." "Well," said he, "from 
the scene just witnessed, and seeing your persistence 



294 INDIANA METHODISM, 

in calling out the president of the United States, 
which I would not have dared to do, I came to 
the conclusion that you always did everything that 
you undertook to do." 

In the religious services at the Capitol on the next 
day, Sunday, Bishop Simpson was at his best. There 
were present, on that notable occasion, President 
Lincoln and family, foreign ministers, cabinet offi- 
cers, with distinguished men and women, political 
and literary, representing almost every portion of 
the United States. Knowing Bishop Simpson as 
this writer did, he was surprised at the Bishop's 
reading as his text the fifth verse of the fifth chapter 
of Romans : "And hope maketh not ashamed ; be- 
cause the love of God is shred abroad in our hearts 
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Hav- 
ing, at the request of the bishop, lead the services 
in prayer, the writer took his seat at the Speaker's 
desk, where he had an unobstructed view of the au- 
dience. The hall (house of representatives) was 
densely crowded. The president and his family sat 
at a convenient distance, immediately in front of 
the bishop, surrounded, for the most part, by his 
cabinet, and the judges of the supreme court of the 
United States. The thought occurred, when the bish- 
op read his text that he had chosen a good subject, 
a very suitable one for a presiding elder's sermon to 
a Saturday congregation of church members ; then 
came the suggestion, Why did the bishop not select 
some theme that would bring out to an audience 
like this something that involved more intellect and 
learning in philosophy and science ? But the won- 
derful man of God, endued with power from on high, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 295 

was equal to the occasion. The audience, for the 
most part, was soon melted to tears. The writer 
noticed particularly the then grand, and almost iron, 
man, the secretary of the treasury, who seemed de- 
termined that he would keep the tears back, and yet 
the tears would come ; at first the secretary, appar- 
ently wishing nobody to see his movements, would 
suddenly brush the tears from his eyes, with his 
hands, but the flow increased until he was compelled 
to draw his white hankerchief, which he freely used. 
If all present were as the one who sat behind the 
bishop during the delivery of that most remarkable 
sermon it will never be forgotten. The closing sen- 
tence was so much like the bishop's preaching at an 
old fashioned Western camp-meeting, and was de- 
livered with such pathos and unction that it would 
seem that it could never be forgotten, and now, af- 
ter almost thirty years it is, at least by one, vividly 
remembered and is here given verbatim : "My dear 
friends, it is not more learning that you most need, 
it is not a higher knowledge in diplomacy ; it is not 
greater political sagacity or more extensive knowl- 
edge of state-craft ; but, that which every one most 
needs of all things under the shinning sun is to have, 
by repentance toward God and faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ and humble obedience, the love of God 
shred abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost given 
unto you." This last sentence was uttered in such 
an impassioned manner as only Mathew Simpson 
could utter it at the high noon of his noble powers 
of oratory and Christian manhood. 

The committe appointed to report a plan for the 
organization of the Church Extention Society was 



296 INDIANA METHODISM, 

composed of the following persons : Edwin C. 
Griswald, Alpha J. Kynett, Samuel C. Thomas, 
Miner Raymond, Barzillai N. Sparrh, David L. 
Dempsey and Reuben Nelson. This was the be- 
ginning of one of the grandest church movements 
of modern times, next to the Missionary society. 

If the history of the Church Extension board 
was written from its inception to the present time it 
would fill a large volume, and then the half would 
not have been told. 

On May 11, John L. Smith offered the following 
resolution, which was adopted : 

"Resolved, That the election of bishops (if any 
shall be elected) and General conference officers be 
made the order of the day for Friday, the 20th inst , 
immediately after the reading of the journal." 
When the time arrived the bishop presiding ap- 
pointed J. C. Pershing, J. L. Smith, J. Lanahan, T. 
H. Pearne, T. C. Gardner, and L. H. King, tellers. 
On the first ballott Davis W. Clarke and Edward 
Thomson were elected "Bishops of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church of the United States of America." 
And on the second ballot Calvin Kingsley was de- 
clared duly elected a "Bishop of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church of the United States of America." 
May 20, on motion of J. L. Smith, the following 
resolution was adopted: 

"Resolved, That the consecration of the bishops 
elect be made the order for Tuesday, May 24, at 
3 o'clock, p. m., and that the bishops be requested 
to arrange for special religious service as in their 
judgment may be proper." 

In the forenoon of that day the following state- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 297 

ment, indicating the duty of church members as to 
the ordinary means of grace, and doing away with 
class-meeting attendance as a condition of church 
membership, was adopted, namely: 

"Such as the public worship of God, the supper 
of the Lord, family and private prayer, searching 
the scriptures, class-meetings, and prayer-meet- 
ings." The vote stood, ayes 129; noes, 80. 

There was another very important action taken, 
namely, changing the time of ministerial service in 
the same station from two years to three as the 
limit. This was done by a vote of 165 to 48. 

At precisely three o'clock May 20, the service on 
the occasion of the ordination (consecration) of the 
recently elected bishops was introduced by Rev. 
Charles Elliott, D. D., who read the 213th hymn; 
after the singing of the hymn, Rev. George Peck, 
D. D., led the devotions of the conference and con- 
gregation in an appropriate prayer. The services were 
continued by Rev. William H. Goode, who read 
the hymn commencing, "Let Zion's watchmen all 
awake." Davis W. Clarke was presented for ordi- 
nation (consecration) by Randolph S. Foster, and 
George Webber; Jessie T. Peck and Leonard B. 
Gurley presented Edward Thomson; then S. Y. 
Monroe and Moses Hill presented Calvin Kingsley. 
The sacrament of the Lord's supper was then ad- 
ministered to the bishops and members of the con- 
ference, Bishop Janes conducting the services. 
Bishop Ames then offered the concluding prayer 
and pronounced the benediction. And thus Rev. 
Davis Clark, D. D., Rev. Edward Thompson, D. D., 
and Rev. Calvin Kingsley, D. D., were severally 



298 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ordained (consecrated), and set apart to the office 
and work of bishops or superintendents of the 
Methodist Episcopal church in the United States of 
America. At the close of these services, on mo- 
tion, the conference adjourned. The Doxology 
was sung, after which the benediction was pro- 
nounced by Bishop Morris. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

PREACHER'S AID SOCIETY — SWISHER'S BEQUESTS. 

For 1864 the Northwest Indiana conference was 
held at Delphi, commencing on the 7th of Septem- 
ber, with Bishop Baker in the chair. Of the 
three persons admitted on trial, one only is a mem- 
ber of the conference, Rev. Samuel Beck, D. D. 

Brother Beck has been a success as a traveling 
preacher from the beginning. He has steadily 
grown in power and influence, and to-day in many 
respects stands the peer of any man in the confer- 
ence. A faithful and successful circuit preacher; a 
successful church-builder and soul-winner; has been 
stationed at Attica, Crawfordsville, Greencastle, 
Terre Haute; served a full term on the Frankfort 
district; closed up at the last conference 1891 a full 
term of six years on the LaPorte district; highly 
respected by preachers and people wherever he 
labored. He is still in vigorous health, at the high 
noon of his manhood, and it is hoped he may live 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 299 

yet many years, laboring in the future as in the 
past with abundant success. He is now stationed 
at Brazil, Indiana. 

At this conference was reported the death of A. 
G. Chinowith and J. B. Mershon. Brother Chino- 
with was a transfer from the Baltimore conference; 
a genial companion, a fair preacher; was for some 
time presiding elder; highly respected and 
loved in his life, and much lamented in his death. 

Brother Mershon was a devout man, and at one 
time was thought to be about the ablest man in the 
conference in combating the somewhat popular 
error, viz., that there is no mode of baptism author- 
ized by the Scriptures excepting that of immersion. 
His last words were, "I have one request to make 
of my brethern: tell them, when they meet my chil- 
dren, to remember them in religious conversation and 
point them to heaven;" and then added, "Oh, what 
joy! Higher! Higher!" 

Presiding elders appointed at this conference, and 
their respective districts: Indianapolis, Benjamin 
Winans; Terre Haute, J. C. Reed ; Attica, J. W. T- 
McMullen; LaFayette, J. H. Hull; Delphi, James 
Johnson; Valparaiso, Conrad S. Burgner; LaPorte, 
S. T. Cooper. 

Agent Preacher's Aid Society, Daniel DeMotte. 

Principals of schools: O. H. Smith, Danville 
Academy; David Holmes, Battle Ground Institute; 
H. G. Jackson, Stockwell Collegiate Institute; 
B. W. Smith, Valparaiso Male ;tnd Female College; 
G. W. Rice, New Carlisle Institute; Levi Tarr, 
Northern Indiana College, South Bend. 

Chaplains in the army: N. L. Brakeman, Charles 



300 INDIANA METHODISM, 

W. Tarr, John S. Donaldson, James H. Claypool. 

Being detained at LaFayette to conduct the fun- 
eral services of honorable Albert S. White, judge 
of the United States circuit court, this writer failed 
for the first time to answer to his name at the first 
roll-call. 

The writer was appointed a commissioner, at this 
conference, to secure, if possible, a division of the 
capital of the Indiana conference Preacher's Aid 
society. The society was organized about the year 
1836, an'd the younger conferences of the State felt 
that they had an interest in the capital. After much 
delay a special act of the legislature was secured, 
chiefly by the agency of the aforesaid commis- 
sioner, authorizing a division of the capital of said 
society into four equal parts, and so providing for 
an equal distribution among the conferences. Even 
after this the Indiana conference refused to consent 
to a division of the funds, until Judge McDonald 
issued an order commanding the division to be 
made. The object of the commissioner was thus 
at length accomplished. The commissioner, from 
the time of his appointment in 1864, until the final 
settlement was made in 187 r, labored faithfully, 
making collections, and securing donations and be- 
quests for the Preacher's Aid society of the North- 
west Indiana conference. The reader is referred to 
a future chapter for some additional facts, especially 
in regard to the closing up of the commissioner's 
work. 

The conference session of 1864 was a very 
pleasant one, followed by a remarkably successful 
year in the work of the preachers, resulting in 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 301 

many conversions and additions to the membership 
•of the church. 

Bishop Scott held the Northwest Indiana confer- 
ence, in 1865, at Attica, Indiana, beginning on the 
6th day of September. 

The only death reported at this conference was 
that of Rev. Benjamin Winans, presiding elder of 
the Indianapolis district. 

After attending five of his quarterly meetings, 
while returning home from the last, he was in- 
stantly hurried into eternity by an accident on the 
LaFayette and Indianapolis railroad, October 31, 
1864. Thus suddenly was he cut down in the prime of 
his manhood and in the midst of his usefulness, 
""ceasing at once to work and live." His last ser- 
mon was preached only. the evening before he was 
'killed, from the text, "O Lord, I will praise thee!" 

Brother Winans possessed preaching abilities of 
a superior order; he was a strong logical thinker, 
-an earnest, effective speaker, chaste in style, natural 
:in manner, and evangelical in spirit. He was not a 
profuse reader, but a profound thinker; modest in his 
pretentions, and unassuming in his claim; retired in 
his disposition, given to solitary walks and medi- 
tation. As an officer in the church he was faithful, 
law-abiding, and prompt; and by his wakeful energy 
"he was instrumental in originating and sustaining 
■several of our literary institutions, as well as in 
•other respects serving the permanent institutions of 
the church. He loved the church of his choice, was 
ever jealous of her honor, and desirious for her suc- 
■cess. As a citizen he was peaceable and loyal, 
.serving his country in every way that a faithful 



302 INDIANA METHODISM, 

minister, not entering the army, could in the t : me 
of its peril. His hospitality was proverbal. Not 
only was the itinerant always welcomed to his 
home, but his beds and the floors of his house were 
often appropriated as lodgings for soldiers whom 
he gathered in from the streets. As a companion 
he was cordial, facetious, and entertaining. As a. 
husband and father he was affectionate, considerate,, 
and cheerful; happy in his domestic relations, and 
hopeful of the future. His piety was unpretending 
but evangeiical; he bore hi* afflctions with patience, 
and under the chastening hand of God he was sub- 
dued but confiding, never doubting the wisdom and 
goodness of God in the allotment of Divine provi- 
dence. 

The friends of Brother Winans at LaFayette paid 
his entire funeral expenses; then placed a beautiful 
monument at his grave. They secured for the fam- 
ily, from the Railroad Co., four thousand dollars in 
cash, (with which this writer had something to do,), 
as also, a United States bond of one hundred dol- 
lars, for each of the five children as a free gift, and 
otherwise looked after the stricken widow and 
fatherless children. 

The conference of 1866 was held at LaPorte, In- 
diana, August 29 — September 5, with Bishop Ames- 
in the chair. Of the six persons admitted on trial 
at this conference only one remains in the active 
work to-day, viz : William A. Smith, now, and for 
several years, stationed in the goodly little city of 
Perrysville. Though a comparatively small place,. 
Perrysville is, and has been for many years, a prom- 
inent point in the conference. Perhaps no truer,. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 303 

better, more permanent and loyal laymen, and godly 
women are to be found in the conference than at 
Perrysville. Years ago among the dwellers of that 
village were John P. Jones and family, William 
Brown and family, good old Sister Blair, Brother 
George McNeil and his good wife and noble boys ; be- 
sides these, the Smiths, the Dunlaps, the Roseburys, 
and many others no less worthy, have successfully 
carried forward the work. Perrysville has also 
been marked as the place where a large number 
of the leading preachers in the conference, from 
time to time, have been stationed ; among whom 
might be named Samuel Brenton, Aaron Wood, 
Richard Hargrave, John B. DeMotte, Joseph C. 
Reed, George M. BoydJ. A. Clearwaters, and others, 
and last, though not least, the good, kind-hearted, 
genial, social, and always successful preacher, — Rev. 
William A. Smith, the present incumbrant. 

Tn many respects 1866 was a year of stirring 
events. This writer, who had acted for four years 
as revenue collector, a part of the time in the work 
as presiding elder, financial agent for the Stockwell 
collegiate institute, and for one or two years on the 
supernumerary list, resigned as collector of revenue, 
and was appointed to the LaFayette district. 

The War being over, Dr. H. G. Jackson, as before 
stated, was sent that year as a missionary to the 
city of New Orleans. On the fourth day of July of 
that year, while the loyal Union men were holding 
a meeting in a public hall, Brother Jackson being 
among them, they were set upon by an infuriated 
mob composed of blood-thirsty, Southern secession- 
ists. The Union people were assaulted with chairs* 



304 INDIANA METHODISM, 

billets of wood, dirks and revolvers. Dr. Jackson 
in passing down the stairway received a bullet from 
one of the mob standing a few steps above him. The 
ball entered his side, and passed through the body 
and through the upper part of one of his lungs and the 
lower part of the other, and with the blood spurting 
from the orifice caused by the bullet, from each side, 
he was arrested at the foot of the stairs and hastily 
put in prison. A kind hearted physician with whom 
Brother Jackson had become acquainted, missing 
the missionary, set out among the police stations to 
find his friend ; after long searching he discovered 
him, faint from loss of blood, and took him home to 
his family in an almost dying condition, which was 
the first intimation his wife had of the terrible affair. 
The weather was very hot, but, through the bless- 
ing of God and the faithful attentions of his "Good 
Samaritan" he so far recovered that in the fall of 
that year he was able with his family to return to 
his friends in Indiana. After his almost miraculous 
recovery, and several years of faithful and success- 
ful work of teaching and preaching in Indiana, he 
was sent as a missionary to South America, with 
headquarters at Buenos Ayers, where he remained ten 
years or more. Returning again to Indiana in 1878, 
took charge of the church at Kansas City to fill a 
vacancy where he preached for several years ; was 
then stationed at Sedalia, Mo. ; and then elected 
president of Lewis College at Glasgow; was trans- 
fered from there by Bishop Fowler to the Rock River 
conference, and stationed at Centinary Church, 
Chicago, remaining a full term of five years and is 
now (as before stated) in charge of one of the dis- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 305 

tricts of that city. Dr. Jackson's treatment in New- 
Orleans, and the apathy of the then President of the 
United States, who, it was and is believed, might 
have prevented the terrible slaughter in New Or- 
leans, — these, together with other important facts, 
were among the reasons which induced the writer 
to resign as revenue collector ; which further rea- 
sons, with letter of resignation, the reader will find 
in the Appendix page . 

Bishop Janes held the conference at Danville, In- 
diana, beginning September 11,1867. There were 
two admitted on trial this year, of whom Brother 
John Thompson only is in the active work. Brother 
Thompson is large-hearted, kind-spirited, and a 
very industrious man ; he is now Bible agent in 
California as he was in Indiana for several years. 
He is a good preacher, and excells in his work as 
agent. Through his indomitable energy and per- 
severance he succeeded in building up the Bible 
work in Indiana as no agent had ever done before. 
Long may he live to bless the church and honor 
God. 

Brother Andrew Sheridan was reported at the 
conference as having passed from labor to reward. 
He was born in Butler county, Ohio, February 7, 
1825 ; converted in 1841 ; licensed to preach by 
Richard Hargrave in 1852 ; admitted to the confer- 
ence on trial, in 1863, and appointed to Lebanon 
circuit ; after which he successfully labored on dif- 
ferent circuits until January 10, 1867, when he peace- 
fully fell asleep in Jesus. His last words were "Jesus 
is with me ; glory to God!" 

For the second time the conference was held, in 



306 INDIANA METHODISM, 

1868, in Valparaiso, September 30 — October 5, when 
Bishop Edward Thompson, for the first time, presid- 
ed over the Northwest Indiana conference. 

The brethren admitted to this conference, who 
are still in the active work, were John M. Stafford, 
William G. Vessels, and D. W. Risher. Each of 
these good brethren has a fine record behind him. 

Brother Stafford, a man of good preaching ability, 
a good pastor, pure in spirit, after filling a number 
of important posts of duty, is now the acceptable and 
much- loved pastor on the Cravvfordsville circuit. 
His honored father, Rev. George VV. Stafford, 
preached his semi-centennial sermon at Rochester in 
1888 ; now retired, living on his farm near Craw- 
fordsville, revered and loved, as he ought to be af- 
ter so many years of successful labor. He is a man 
of character, piety, and broad intelligence ; and, to 
crown all, he is a first-class specimen of the true 
Christian gentleman. 

Brother Vessels, still active and energetic, hav- 
ing been transfered several years ago to Nebraska, 
where he is reported to have done excellent work, 
was, in the fall of 1891, transfered back to his old 
conference, among his former friends and brethren, 
and is now shouting to the battle on the beautiful 
' VVea Plains," near the city of LaFayette. 

Brother D. W. Risher is one of the solid men of 
the conference, with less flash and brilliancy than 
some of his brethren, but with a skill and activity 
in the work far above many of his fellows. He is 
ever found at his post, successfully pushing forward 
the work of the Lord. He deserves well of his 
brethren. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 307 

The deaths reported that year were W. O. VVyant 
.and A. D. Cunningham. Brother Wyant's race was 
short ; he was an Alumnus of Asbury, now DePauw 
University, and, in his public speech, for purity of 
diction, brilliancy of imagination, and power to im- 
press his audience with the truth of the gospel, was 
not surpassed by any man of his age in the confer- 
ence. At the conference of 1867 he was admitted 
on trial and appointed to Delphi station. He en- 
tered upon his work with a burning zeal, determined 
by the grace of God to witness a revival of the 
work of the Lord, and in this, he was not disappoint- 
ed, for a gracious revival attended his labors. He tax- 
ed his energies too severely. OnThursday evening, 
January 23, 1868, while holding to the railing of the 
rostrum, he grew dizzy and partially blind, and said: 
■"Are they putting out the lights ? I cannot see." 
Staggering from the pulpit he was assisted into the 
parsonage to die. As the result of congestion ol 
the brain, a stupor ensued from which he never re- 
vived, and on Sunday morning, January 26, while 
his church bell was ringing for class-meeting, be- 
tween eight and nine o'clock a. m., his spirit fled to 
the heavenly world. And so passed away the flash- 
ing yet fleeting meteor — this very remarkable young 
man. 

Rev. Amor D. Cunningham was born in Ripley 
county, Indiana, July 12, 1833. In his younger life 
he attended school at Brookville college. During 
his nineteenth year he united with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, under the ministry of Rev. Will- 
iam M. Fraley, and was soon after converted to 
God ; he was received into full connection by Rev. 



308 INDIANA METHODISM, 

T. M. Eddy, and soon after received license to 
preach. He was married to Miss Mary M. Chafee, 
May I, 1855. For a time he had charge of the 
schools of Blooming Grove and Greenfield, Indiana, 
and went from Greenfield to Indianapolis and filled 
the chair of Mathematics in the Female College. 
He was a man of great fervor of spirit, a magnetic 
preacher, but feeble in health ; he died of hemor- 
rhage of the lung?, August 9, 1868. 

The delegates from the Northwest Indiana con- 
ference to the General conference, held in Chicago 
in 1868, were Joseph C. Reed, William Graham, 
Aaron Wood, John L. Smith. Bishops present at 
that General conference were Thomas A. Morris, 
Edmund S. Janes, Levi Scott, Mathew Simpson, 
Edward R. Ames, Davis W. Clark, Edward Thomp- 
son, and Calvin Kingsley. It was understood that 
Bishop Baker was in feeble health and was not ex- 
pected to be present during the conference. 

The meeting of the conference and the National 
Convention for nominating a President and Vice 
President of the United States at the same time and 
in the same city, brought together thousands of peo- 
ple ; and every hotel, and other places where a 
stranger could get lodging, seemed to be filled. 
There were in attendance on the General conference 
many celebrities, among whom was Dr. William 
Morley Puncheon, of the Wesleyan Methodist con- 
nection in England. Dr. Puncheon was a marked 
man, whether in public speech or private conversa- 
tion. In private interviews with preachers he 
seemed disposed to make the impression that the 
Americans were rather an inferior race compared 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 309 

with the English. On one occasion he and Bishop 
Ames indulged in a familiar conversation in which 
Mr. Puncheon, among other things, said : "Bishop 
Ames, I feel, after all, that you Americans are rather a 
clever sort of people. I find among them some men 
of brilliant power, but then I readily account for that 
on the principal that most of your better, and cul- 
tured, people are descendents from English stock." 
To which Bishop Ames responded : "Well, Brother 
Puncheon, I am inclined to think that your state- 
ment is as much at variance with the facts as your 
conclusion is illogical ; for, in my studies of the laws 
of pomology, I find that our best apples originated 
with the crab, and according to my taste and ex- 
perience the farther we get away from the original 
crab the better the fruit," whereupon the conversa- 
tion took a different turn, 

Perhaps the most important act of the General 
conference of 1868 was that which so far perfected 
the lay-delegation movement as to make it possible 
for the lay brethren to enter as members of the Gen- 
eral conference of 1872. The arrangement, how- 
ever, which was as near perfection at the time, as 
the friends of the movement thought it possible to 
make it, has never yet seemed to be adjusted to 
the satisfaction of the lay brethren ; and the ques- 
tion, therefore, for some time has been, how to ad- 
just the lay and clerical elements in a satisfactory 
way, so as to secure harmony in the body as a 
whole. As to whether the ensuing General confer- 
ence (May, 1892) will take the initiative for dividing 
itself into two houses, remains to be seen. On the 
thirteenth day of the conference, J. C. Reed pre- 



310 INDIANA METHODISM, 

sented the following question, and it was referred 
to the committee on episcopacy, viz : "When a 
copy of charges against a member of an Annual 
conference has been sent to him, and the charges 
tput in the hands of the presiding bishop of said con- 
ference to be presented to the conference, has the 
•bishop the power or right at his discretion to suppress 
-or withhold them from the conference." 

'On the fifteenth day of the session J. L. Smith 
presented three petitions on the subject of lay rep- 
resentation, signed by Levi Ritter, J. H. Ross, E. 
S. Organ, and sixty others, and they were referred 
.to the committee on that subject. 

In this General conference there were two vener- 
able and very remarkable men from the Illinois 
conference. These were Peter Cartwright and Peter 
Akers. This was Dr. Cartwright's last General con- 
ference, but Dr. Akers served in the General con- 
ference of 1872. 

At the General conference at Boston in 1852, the 
scholarly and precise Dr. E. K. True delivered a 
lengthy address, in which he admonished the mem- 
bers of that body and urged that in discussing any 
subject they should not only sacredly observe par- 
liamentary law, but keep close to the subject, and 
not waste so much time in wandering from the 
point of debate. As Dr. True seemed to be near the 
close of his speech Dr. Cartwright was observed to 
keep his eye first upon the speaker and then upon 
the chair ; while Dr. True was in the act of resuming 
his seat Cartwright sprang to his feet, and, obtain- 
ing the floor, he said : "We have had a long homily 
upon the importance of sticking to the pint and now, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 3 1 1 

Mr. President, Dr. True's speech brings to my mind 
a song that the Suckers used to sing in the early 
settlement of Illinois, which was this : 

'It is pint look out and pint look in, 
Its pint and no pint and pint agin.' 

And now,Mr. President, I want Dr. True and all the 
other Drs. on this floor to know that I too am a Dr.; 
for I was born in a canebrake, rocked in a sugar 
trough, and graduated in a thunderstorm." To say 
that this speech brought down the house is drawing 
it very mildly, for it was some time before order 
was restored in that grave body. 

A good many Methodists have read Dr. Cart- 
wright's autobiography but very few are familiar 
with the close of his earthly pilgrimage. So the au- 
thor, believing that many of his readers would be 
interested in a brief history of this remarkable man, 
takes the liberty of here giving the full text of his 
memoir as published in the General minutes. 

Peter Cartwright died at his home near Pleasant 
Plains, Sangamon county, Illinois, at three o'clock 
p. m., September 25, 1872. He was born September 
1, 1785, in Amherst county, Va.;hence at his death he 
was eighty seven years and twenty-four days old. 
When he was eight years of age his father moved with 
his family to Logan county, Ky. He was converted 
May 1, 1801, at a protracted meeting held by the 
Presbyterians and Methodists near his home, and 
was made an exhorter in May, 1802. His ex- 
horter's license was all the human authority he had 
to preach until he was ordained deacon. His first 
appointment was as junior preacher on the Red Riv- 
er circuit, embracing Logan county, Ky. He re- 



312 INDIANA METHODISM, 

mained on that circuit three months, took into the 
church twenty-five members, and received six dol- 
lars. The balance of the year he spent as preacher- 
in-charge of Waynesville, an adjoining circuit. Here 
he was recommended to the Annual conference, 
which was held October, 1804, at Mt. Gerizim, Ky. 
He was ordained deacon at Lexington, Ky., by 
Bishop Asbury, September 16, 1806. In 1808 he 
was ordained elder, by Bishop McKendree, at the 
conference held at Liberty Hall, Tenn.; August 18, 
1808, he was married to Frances Gains, his bride be- 
ing nineteen and he nearly twenty-three ; and this 
year he traveled Salt River circuit. 1809-10 he was on 
the Lexington circuit, Ky. 181 1 he was on the Chris- 
tian circuit, and in 18 12 was appointed presiding 
elder of Wabash district, by Bishop Asbury, at the 
conference at Fountain Green, Tenn. From 1813 
to 1816 he was presiding elder of Green River dis- 
trict, Ky. In this latter year he was first elected 
delegate to the General conference held at Balti- 
more, Md. He was a delegate to thirteen General 
conferences in succession. From 1816 to i82ohe 
traveled circuits in Kentucky. From 1821 to 1824 
he was presiding elder of Cumberland district, Ky. 
His appointment to this district was the beginning 
of his fifty years in regular succession in the presid- 
ing eldership. 

He came to Illinois on horseback in 1823, to ex- 
plore the country. He moved his family to Pleas- 
ant Plains, 111., November 24, 1824. Here he spent 
the remainder of his eventful life ; here he died in 
peace, and here lies his body in the soil which, like 
Abraham, he purchased with his own money. The 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 313 

Illinois conference was organized the year Dr. Cart- 
wright joined it. In 1825 he was made presiding el- 
der of Illinois district, and was, continuously presid- 
ing elder of different districts in Illinois till Sep- 
tember 24, 1869, when he was relieved from its la- 
bors at his own request. In 1870 and 1872 he was 
conference missionary. He attended forty-six meet- 
ings of the Illinois conference, missing only one, 
from 1824 to 1 87 1. He was present at the first call- 
ing of the roll in this conference forty-five times. 
He was six years a visitor of McKendree college, 
three years a visitor of Illinois Wesleyan university, 
and one year a visitor of Garrett Biblical institute. 
He was eight years in the old Western conference, 
eight years in the Tennessee conference, four years 
in the Kentucky conference, and forty-eight years a 
member of the Illinois conference. 

In person, Dr. Cartwright was about five feet ten 
inches high, and had a square built, powerful physi- 
cal frame, weighing nearly two hundred pounds. 
He often said that he had a constitution that could 
wear out a dozen threshing machines. His com- 
plexion was dark, he had high cheek bones, and a 
small piercing black eye. His hair was never 
straight, and as his head was large, he presented at 
times a very bold and formidable look. His hardships 
and exposure seemed but to add to his manly vigor 
and produce almost perfect health. And he 
appreciated this blessing of Heaven so greatly that 
he had a high regard for the muscular part of his 
Christianity. The roughs and bruisers at camp- 
meetings and elsewhere stood in awe of his 
brawny arm, and many anecdotes are told of his 



314 INDIANA METHODISM, 

courage and daring that sent terror to their ranks. 
He felt that he was one of the Lord's breaking 
plows, and that he had to drive his way through 
all kinds of roots and stubborn soil. Added to 
and above all this superior physical strength he had 
a sort of moral and kingly power that belongs to all 
real heroes, without which the grandest muscular 
development is but as wood, hay, and stubble. His 
gesticulation, his manner of listening, his walk, and 
his laugh were peculiar, and would command atten- 
tion in a crowd of a thousand. There was some- 
thing undefinable about the whole man that was 
attractive to the majority of people, and made them 
linger in his presence and want to see him again. 
His early Kentucky life, and the long prairie rides 
in Illinois, did more than build up a powerful phys- 
ical frame. The fundamental doctrines of Christi- 
anity early engaged his attention, and occupied his 
thoughts; and what truths are better calculated to 
give mental health and vigor? His mind naturally and 
readily perceived the strong points of a subject and 
did not waste its energies on side issues, and hence 
he soon became acknowledged as a man of superior 
mental power. His acquaintance with books was 
not commensurate with his intellect; yet he seemed 
to possess a knowledge of all the important facts of 
history, ancient and modern. He had a remarkable 
perception of men, and seldom had occasion to 
change his first impression of a man's character. 
He said he could read a man who talked much in 
ten minutes. He would reach a point by intuition 
where others had to go through long and tedious 
processes of reasoning. He was posted on all promi- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 3 [ £ 

nent subjects of legislation, and occasionally took 
an active part in politics; but made all subservient 
to the higher duties of the ministry. Public men 
had a very high regard for his mental and moral 
power. Sometimes he handled them with an un- 
sparing hand, and woe to the man that came with- 
in the sweep of his indignation. It has been said 
of him that he hated the devil more than he loved 
Christ. We hardly think so, for while he was fierce 
in his denunciations of Satan and the powers of 
darkness, he was none the less successful and power- 
ful when he came to dwell upon the glories of heaven 
and the mercies of Jehovah. He wielded the bat- 
tle-axe of truth with no feeble hand; but while he 
could cut and pound, and blow away a subterfuge 
of lies, he could also build up a home, and extend & 
warm and hearty welcome to the slain, gathering; 
them in with a kind hand to a place of peace,, 
safety, and glory. 

For years he was an acknowledged leader. In. 
the Illinois conference he took that rank at 
the first, and continued his influence and power 
almost up to the time of his relinquishment of the- 
district. Nearly two generations of preachers- 
in this body looked upon him and Dr. Akers as- - 
their spiritual fathers, protectors and guides. He 
had a peculiar talent for a conference. He 
regarded a body of Methodist ministers as the best 
society on earth, and he knew how to enjoy it. In 
debate his speeches were short, pithy, and right to the 
point. Sometimes his rebuffs, wit, and compliments- 
were scattered promiscuously upon his opponents- 
and his supporters. He loved his conference, and 



3 l6 INDIANA METHODISM, 

almost to the last of his days attended its sessions. 
When his form was bowed, his steps feeble, and his 
voice had lost its volume, he loved to linger where 
so many of his trophies had been won, and 
enjoy the smiles, and grasp the hands of his co- 
laborers, some of whom he had known fifty 
years. That the conference highly esteemed him 
was evinced by its repeatedly electing him to the 
General conference, and holding a jubilee in honor 
of the fact that he had been presiding elder fifty 
consecutive years. No man was ever elected so oft- 
en to the highest legislative body of the church, 
no man was ever fifty years successively presiding 
elder, and no man ever had a whole conference to 
hold a jubilee in honor of such an event, save Peter 
Cartwright. 

Mrs. Cartwright, who survives her husband, was 
in every sense of the word a helpmeet for him. In 
all the trials of poverty, and of a new country, and 
the itinerant life therein, and the special trials of 
Father Cartwright, she was always his trusted coun- 
selor, and faithful and quiet assistant. She was 
literally a worthy companion of such a man. More 
than sixty-four years they lived together happily, 
fulfilling the promise they made at the altar in 1S08 
to support, love, and cherish each other till death 
should them part. Their family consisted of nine 
children — two sons and seven daughters. Two sons 
and five daughters are still living; and the patriarch 
saw before he died the faces of his fifty grand- 
children, thirty-seven great-grandchildren, and 
seven great great-grandchildren. As a preacher, 
he was warm, sympathetic, clear, and often rose to 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 3 I 7 

the highest style of oratory. In fact, his power 
over an audience was in his palmy days often over- 
whelming. Scores have been known to fall under 
his burning words as if they were struck by 
lightning. Riotous ruffians, who came to scoff and 
disturb, were prostrated by the impetuous sweep of 
his sword of the spirit; and contentious skeptics, 
and uproarious infidels, and quarrelsome bigots, 
were scattered and driven by his preaching as chaff 
in the wind. He could knock down the leader and 
disperse the mob at a camp-meeting, and then 
mount the stand, and in thirty minutes cause three 
hundred to fall like dead men in battle under his 
preaching. Sometimes he would overflow with 
mirthfulness and humor. But behind all his ec- 
centricities of wit he carried a warm heart, good 
sense, and a supply of divine grace. Although he 
was a natural wag, he never allowed his inclination 
to drollery to master him. He assumed various ways 
for various people. Now he was like a fearful 
cloud charged with thunder, lightning, and terror; 
and then he would excite to levity and glee, which 
soon, it may be, was followed by floods of tears, 
so that the people hardly knew how to show their 
admiration, whether by crying, laughing, or shout- 
ing, or all together at once. Everything about 
his discourses was marked and original. He knew 
well the great truths of religion, and generally 
made them plain to his hearers. There was noth- 
ing misty or ambiguous in his statements. He al- 
ways made his hearers understand the aim he had 
in view. We might extend this tribute to his mem- 
ory to almost any length, relating incidents of his 



3 18 INDIANA METHODISM, 

long and eventful career. His history is connect- 
ed with almost the entire history of our church in 
America. He preached nearly eighteen thousand 
sermons, not including minor addresses; he baptized 
nearly fifteen thousand persons and received into 
the church nearly twelve thousand members, and 
licensed preachers enough to make a whole confer- 
ence. He has faced mobs, quelled riots, preached ser- 
mons, prayed for mourners, legislated for his church 
and his State, written books, sung songs, worked 
with his own hands on a farm, and done all these 
diversified kinds of business in good order, in quick 
succession, and of vast amount. And amid all this 
diversity of labor and trial, for over seventy years 
he maintained a character for unblemished Christian 
honesty and integrity. He may have committed 
errors and mistakes; but if God would never carry 
on a work until he could find servants free from fol- 
lies his work never would be done, through human 
agency at least. If his blessing never attended a 
preacher until he was free from all unwise words 
and ways, we are afraid we would all go without a 
blessing the balance of our days. The infallible 
pen of inspiration notes the fact that prophets and 
apostles were not as perfect and complete as the 
Lord would desire them. For our part, we would 
rather a locomotive would now and then run off the 
track and break a few bones, than stand on the side 
switch and rust and rot. We would rather look up- 
on the swift torrent that carried with it destruction 
now and then, than to look upon the stagnant pool, 
breeding malaria and death in its quietness. 

Brother Cartwright was living six years before 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 319 

John Wesley died. He was a Methodist when the 
term was almost unknown except as a reproach and 
derision; when its members were counted by hun- 
dreds and far between. He devoted his remarkable 
energies to the service of the church while it was 
weak and despised, and was spoken of as an "igno- 
rant and excitable rabble;" when its contributions 
were measured by a few hundreds, and the support 
of its preachers was doled out by dimes; when it 
had hardly a leaf of literature, and had no college 
or seminary worthy of the name; when its churches 
were log cabins, and its conferences were held on 
camp-grounds. 

Brother Cartwright lived in the country before it 
had a constitution, and most of the renowned men 
of the nation have risen, flourished, and died in his 
lifetime. Washington, and the Adamses, Jefferson, 
Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Clay, Webster, Benton, 
Calhoun, Douglass, and Lincoln, all performed their 
wonderful deeds of statesmanship within his day. 
He was a witness of the birth of the nation, and 
was an intelligent actor at the time of the war of 
1 8 12. He was past the average age of men when 
Scott took Mexico and Zachary Taylor conquered 
on the field of Buena Vista. He heard and opposed 
the first notes of nullification, and the repeated 
threats to dissolve the Union; he saw the attempt 
to carry out these threats and its miserable failure. 
He knew his country when there was neither 
steamboat nor locomotive in it, and he lived to see 
our waters covered with the noblest specimens of 
naval architecture, and nearly eight)' thousand 
miles of railroads running- from the rivers to the 



320 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ends of the earth. He was spoken of as an old 
man before the telegraph was thought of, yet he 
lived to see it extended through all civilized lands, 
and its lines spread over the depths of the sea. 
He stood on the site of Chjcago when it was a 
swamp, and when no man was mad enough to 
dream that it was the spot where the most wonder- 
ful city of the world would be built. He had al- 
most made a history of his own when St. Louis 
was only a trading post, and when Omaha and San- 
Francisco were unknown. 

Our pen and time fail to do him justice. A vol- 
ume might be written, and then the events of his 
remarkable life would be but dimly portrayed. 
When thousands of other orators, and scholars, 
and theologians, and evangelists are for- 
gotten, Brother Cartwright's name will be a house- 
hold word throughout the western country." 

This writer's acquaintance with Dr. Cartwright 
commenced in 1852 and was afterwards more or less 
intimate to the time of his death. 

Years ago the bishops adopted an administrative 
rule requiring a more frequent change of presid- 
ing elders, Not long afterwards Bishop Morris pre- 
sided at a session of the Illinois conference, when 
the following colloquy took place between him and 
Peter Cartwright in one of the cabinet meetings. 
(The writer received his account of it from the 
bishop's own lips, and now gives it in the bishop's 
own words as nearly as they can be recalled.) 
"Brother Cartwright, I suppose you know of the ac- 
tion taken by the board of bishops, the rule they 
adopted at their last meeting?" — "Look here, Tom, I 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 32 1 

want you to understand right now that you can't cut 
up any such flubdubs about me. Don't you remember 
when you were the junior preacher on a circuit with 
me? and how I had to carry you on my back the 
whole year? and how I begged socks and other 
clothing for you from the people? and have 
you forgotten, when the people determined to 
send you home, how I stood by you? Now I sup- 
pose you think you are no longer little Tom Mor- 
ris but big Bishop Morris! The idea of your com- 
ing out here and proposing to interfere with my 
rights! I want you to understand Brother Tommy 
that the thing can't be done. You may do as you 
please with these young chaps, but, as for me, be it 
understood right now, you will leave me on my dis- 
trict. Mind you, I am no spring chicken!" The 
bishop laughed heartily while relating the incident, 
and when the writer inquired, "Well, what did you 
do with him, bishop?" he answered, "Why, what 
could I do with him? I just left him on his district." 
"The fact is," said the bishop, "everybody knows that 
Peter Cartwright is a privileged character; more- 
over, in view of his long life and arduous labors, I 
thought it was best to deviate from the rule, and 
not disturb the old war-horse." 

The writer having been elected at the Annual 
meeting of the joint board of trustees and visitors 
as financial agent of the Indiana Asbury University, 
was appointed by Bishop Thomson in the fall of 
1868 to that work. He succeeded in securing from 
Anthony Swisher, of Warren county, Indiana, the 
following bequests : for the University, one half 
of the Swisher estate, which, it was thought 



322 INDIANA METHODISM, 

would be worth to the University at least twenty- 
thousand dollars; for the Board of Church Extension, 
five thousand dollars; for the Missionary Society, 
five thousand dollars; for the Preacher's Aid Society, 
five thousand dollars; and for the American Bible 
Society, five thousand dollars. The agent also se- 
cured several donations to the University from 
other parties. 

The conditions of Mr. Swisher's will were such that 
nothing could be realized on the bequest until after 
the death of himself and wife, they having no 
children. Mrs. Swisher survived her husband sev- 
eral years, and died late in 1890. The estate is not 
yet fully settled, but the Asbury, now DePauw Uni- 
versity has already received about eighteen thousand 
dollars. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

GENERAL CONFERENCE 1876— BOOK COMMITTEE. 

For the first time Bishop Clark held the session 
of the Northwest Indiana conference, at LaFayette, 
September 8-13, 1869 ; Clark Skinner acting as sec- 
retary. At this conference nineteen were admitted 
on trial, and there are among them to-day, in the 
active work.W. P. McKinsey, David Handley, H. N. 
Ogden, J. T. Stafford, and H. A. Gobin. 

Brother McKinsey is now stationed at Lebanon. 
He has from the beginning been an active and earn- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 323 

est worker ; for several years past he has occupied 
important stations such as Plymouth, Delphi, and 
others. He has had success in his work in every 
charge to which he has been appointed ; he is a good 
preacher, has made himself familiar with the polity 
of the church ; a ready accountant; active and faith- 
ful ; and is blessed with a gifted and godly wife, 
who has indeed been a helpmate in all the years of 
her honored husband's ministry. She is now the 
efficient, able, and popular Conference secretary of 
the Woman's Foreign missionary society, and right 
royally has she sustained the work committed to 
her charge. 

Brother Handley was for some time a student in 
the, Valparaiso college, and afterwards passed 
through the course of study in the Garrett Biblical 
Institute. He is an able and logical gospel preacher ; 
he has been a success in the work of the ministry in 
every field of labor in which he has served. He is 
now on his second year in the Thorntown station, 
where he is greatly esteemed by the people, and is 
having prosperity in his work. 

Brother Ogden is well-known in the conference 
as a pleasant, smooth, sweet spirited man of God. For 
a number of years he has diligently and successfully 
labored in several of the important stations of the 
conference. For three years past he has been elected 
secretary ; and, at the last session of the conference, 
1891, he was appointed by Bishop Ninde, presiding 
elder of the South Bend district, and now bids fair to 
be fully equal, if not superior, to his former self in 
his new field of labor. 

Brother Stafford is now stationed on the Monon 



324. INDIANA METHODISM, 

Charge ;he is an excellent preacher,clear,sound, meth- 
odical. In private life Brother S. is orderly, dignified, 
and sometimes a little taciturn, but has a social na- 
ture and a warm heart ; is devoted to his friends, 
loves the church, and is faithful and successful in 
his work. 

Dr. Gobin is one of our purest and best men. His 
father, Calvin Gobin was one of the class-leaders in 
the pastoral charge of this writer at Terre Haute, 
in 1847-8, when Hiliary was a little boy and Sabbath- 
school scholar. He was a lovable child, a pure 
young man, devoted, pious ; graduated at Asbury 
university ; labored as a pastor for several years ; 
was instrumental in building a fine church both at 
Remington and at Goodland ; stationed at first M. 
E. church, South Bend ; afterwards at Trinity church, 
LaFayette ; then elected Greek professor in DePauw 
university ; then called to the presidency of a col- 
lege in Kansas ; elected and recalled to Greencastle, 
and is now successfully serving as Dean of the school 
of theology ; and is delegate elect to the General 
conference to meet in Omaha, Neb., in May, 1892. 

Bishop Clark was kind enough to give this writer 
Williamsport circuit, although both the bishop and 
some of the writer's special friends in the conference, 
were for a time, determined that the College agent 
should continue in the agency. They were very 
persistent in their efforts to have him re-appointed, 
but, on the other hand, he as persistently refused to 
be re-appointed. They persisted until he felt it to 
be his duty as well as privilege to rise before the 
conference and say : "Neither this conference nor 
Bishop Clark, with all his episcopal authority, has 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 325 

the power to continue me in the agency. He has 
the power to send me to the poorest mission, the 
hardest circuit, the most difficult station, or the 
largest district in the conference ; and, in case of any 
such appointment, as a loyal Methodist preacher I 
will go, but back into the agency I will not go." He 
did go to a circuit, and it proved to be one of the 
best and most successful years of his ministeral life. 
Through the blessing of God a gracious revival at- 
tended his unworthy labors ; two new churches were 
built and a third was well on the way, the year wind- 
ing up with a glorious camp-meeting ; and, as these 
churches were built and three new societies organ- 
ized outside of the circuit to which he had been ap- 
pointed, he was able to return (at the next confer- 
ence) the Williamsport circuit revived and greatly 
strengthened, and an entire new circuit called Wal- 
nut Grove, which from the beginning was self-sup- 
porting. 

At this conference was reported the death of the 
venerable and much loved H. Vredenburgh who had 
been on the superannuated list for quite a number 
of years. He was born in West Chester county, 
New York, May 10, 1790; settled in Terre Haute, 
Indiana, in 1817 ; joined the Missouri conference in 
1820. In 1824 the Illinois conference was formed 
and Brother Vredenburgh was one of the original 
thirty-two members. He traveled many hard cir- 
cuits, among which were Crawfordsville and Logans- 
port mission. He was included in the Indiana con- 
ference at the time it was formed, and his last years 
of active service was on the Prairieville circuit, to 
which he was appointed in 185 1. He was a very 



326 INDIANA METHODISM, 

clear and sound doctrinal preacher, much loved by 
the people, venerated by the junior members of the 
conference, and respected by all. He closed his ca- 
reer in peace at the home of his son-in-law, Rev. R. 
C. Rowley, in Wisconsin, January 23, 1869. 

From the time the Episcopal plan of visitation 
was published the preachers of the conference hailed 
with delight the approaching session, when their in- 
timate friend and much loved Bishop Simpson would 
preside again. The conference that year was held 
at Terre Haute, September 7-12, 1870. Twelve 
were admitted on trial, and, of these all that remain 
in the conference and in the active work of the min- 
istry now, are Henry C. Neal, and Elijah R. John- 
son. 

Brother Neal is a devoted Christian gentleman, a 
man of good education, a fine preacher, and success- 
ful in his work. He was educated at Delaware, 
Ohio ; has traveled a number of years, also spent 
several years as teacher in the High School at 
Thorntown, and is now the much loved and highly 
esteemed pastor of Lebanon circuit. 

Rev. E. R. Johnson is a man of worth ; he is not 
only an able preacher, a faithful pastor, and a man 
who brings things to pass as a leader in revival 
work ; but he is, and has been, the useful and popu- 
lar chairman of the Conference committee on sta- 
tistics. In every department of the work to which 
he has been called, he has been a success. 

Among those admitted that year, who have gone 
out from us, mention should be made of Rev. E. R. 
Dille, of the California conference ; D. G. LeSourd, 
and Dr. N. A. Chamberlain, the former of Puget 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 327 

Sound conference and the latter of Colorado confer- 
ence, now stationed in the city of Denver. Each of 
these three brethren now stand among the leading 
men of their respective conferences. 

The Crawfordsville district for that year stood as 
follows : J. L. Smith, presiding elder ; Crawfords- 
ville, A. A. Gee ; Crawfordsville circuit, W. G. Ves- 
sells ; Darlington, F. Mikels ; Alamo, C. B. Heath ; 
Covington, W. Frank Bartholomew ; Perrysville, 
Wilson Beckner ; State Line, G. W. Warner ; Will- 
iamsport, Thomas Bartlett ; Walnut Grove, D. P. 
M'Lain ; Stockvvell, C. B. Mock ; John Thomson, 
Agent of American Bible Society. 

On the Sunday of the conference Bishop Simpson, 
among his old and highly esteemed friends in the 
cityofTerre Haute, arose in his sermon to the 
highest point of grandeur as a gospel preacher. He 
was loved and honored everywhere in the state, but 
nowhere more than in the city of Terre Haute. 
Among the prominent citizens of Terre 
Haute at the time, and some of them are yet living, 
were Hon. Richard W. Thompson, Senator Vorhees, 
T. C. Buntin, and Hon. Thomas Dowling. Mr. 
Dowling gave a dinner party in honor of the bishop. 
Among the guests were Hon. D. W. Vorhees, one 
of the bishop's old students, Rev. Dr. A. A. Gee, and 
J. L. Smith. At the dinner table Mr. Dowling told 
a very amusing anecdote. Once, when he was a 
member of the Indiana legislature, the common- 
school question came up for discussion. The Hon. 
Joseph A. Wright, a Democrat, and the Hon. H. P., 
a Whig, who, it appeared, had no children to edu- 
cate, were the principal disputants. Mr. Wright 



328 INDIANA METHODISM, 

delivered a fervid speech in favor of free schools, 
referring, in the course of his remarks, to the mother 
of the Grachi, and eulogizing her devotion to the 
education of her boys, Wright recounted all the 
particulars of the familiar story. When a certain 
noble lady, he said, visited the mother of the Grachi, 
making a display of her costly jewelry, and then 
saying to Cornelia, 'And where are your jewels ?' 
Cornelia purposely detained her guest until her 
boys returned from school, when, pointing to them 
she said, 'These are my jewels.' Meanwhile the 
Whig member, leaning over and whispering to Mr. 
Dowling, who was a brother Whig, inquired, 'What 
does Wright mean by his talk about Mother Grachi ? 
Who is she anyhow ? I never heard of her before.' 
'Oh,' said Dowling, 'she is an old woman living on 
the Raccoon, down in Park county. She has six or 
eight lazy, good-for-nothing boys ; and she is ex- 
pecting, if this bill is passed, to have them schooled 
at the expense of the rest of us, who have no boys 
to educate.' 'Ah, that's it, eh ? Well, never mind, 
I'll show him a thing or two.' As soon as Mr. 
Wright was seated the Whig member from South- 
ern Indiana, sprang to his feet, and said : 'Mr. 
Speaker, perhaps you and this house don't under- 
stand about this case as much as I do. The gentle- 
man who has just taken his seat, as you know, rep- 
resents Park county, and wants to make himself 
very popular with the old women and boys down 
there. He has a great deal to say about Mother 
Grachi ; but who is Mother Grachi ? Why, sir, as I 
have been informed by a gentleman who knows her 
well, she is an ignorant old woman living down 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 329 

there on the Raccoon, in Park county, and has about 
a dozen boys the gentleman who has just spoken 
would have us educate at the expense of the State. 
And now Mr. Speaker, I should like to know where 
the money is to come from ? Why, sir, it must come 
from the pockets of the hard-fisted yeomanry of the 
country, many of whom, like myself have no boys to 
educate. Money must be taken from my pocket by 
taxation, and from the hard earnings of others like 
myself,whohave no children, to educate a lot of loung- 
ing boys like old Mother Grachi's. I protest against it. 
The people I have the honor to represent will never 
stand it, sir, never.' The effect of the speech, Mr. 
Dowling said, was tremendous. The whole house,, 
including gallaries, was convulsed with laughter. 
And the laughter, he said, instead of confusing or 
intimidating, only animated and inspired the 
speaker. 

L The conference year was a prosperous one in re- 
vivals, conversions and additions to the church. 

The session of the North-west Indiana con- 
ference of 1 87 1, was held at Crawfords- 
ville, Bishop Ames presiding, J. C. Reed, sec- 
retary. Eleven persons, at this conference, 
were admitted on trial, of whom only one remains 
in the conference and in the active work — Rev. 
Whitefield Hall, now stationed on LaPorte circuit. 
This good brother is a son of Rev. Colbreth Hall, 
and, on the maternal side, is a grandson of Rev. 
William Hunt, who was among the very first Meth- 
odist preachers in Indiana, being in the territory as 
early as 1808. Brother W. Hall is a sound gospel 
preacher, loves the church, is devoted to his work, 



33° INDIANA METHODISM, 

has a cultured wife, and has been much blessed in 
seeing the work of the Lord prosper in his hands. 

One admitted at this conference, F. J. Tolby, was 
sent as a missionary to New Mexico, and, after two 
or three years of faithful labor.his life went out by the 
hand of an unknown assassin. Brother Tolby was 
born in Hendricks county, Indiana. He was con- 
verted to God near Tippecanoe Battle Ground in 
1857, an d, as has been stated, admitted to the North- 
west Indiana conference in 1871. He served the 
church with fidelity on Pine Grove, Brook, and Mor- 
rocco circuits, and in 1874 was stationed at Cimar- 
ron, New Mexico. On September 14, 1875, as he 
was returning from Elizabethtown, he was shot by 
some unknown person, and fell from his horse a life- 
less corpse. 

The following words found in the report of Rev. 
Thomas Harwood, superintendent of the mission, 
doubtless contain the true acount of the mis- 
sionary's tragic end. He says: "Brother Tolby 
has labored nearly two years at Cimaron and 
Elizabethtown and did the church good service. He 
was a rising man, bold and fearless in the pulpit and 
out of it; had made many friends on his circuit and 
in the country, and was hopeful for the work; but 
in the midst of his hopes, in the noonday of his 
life, he was cut off. But the itinerant, like a war- 
rior, fell from his saddle in the midst of the 
strife." 

Several things transpired at the conference of 
1871 of rather a remarkable character. The confer- 
ence sermon on Tuesday night was preached by 
Brother B , in which, as it was thought by many of 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 33 [ 

his brethren, he animadverted with unsparing 
severity upon the alleged conduct of many mem- 
bers of the conference, even charging them with 
organizing secret bands among themselves for the 
sake of personal promotion. 

At this conference the commissioner appointed to 
secure a division of the Preacher's Aid Society 
funds, made his final report. And in that report 
was incorporated the action of the Board of Mana- 
gers, approving and accepting the services of the 
commissioner, and adding, by resolution, a vote of 
thanks for the faithful manner in which the work 
had been conducted from the beginning to its 
close, including a period of seven years. 

A provisional arrangement for the introduction of 
layman into the General conference having been 
made at Chicago in 1868, lay delegation entered the 
General conference of 1872 in triumph, at Brook- 
lyn, N. Y. The first Northwest Indiana Lay Elec- 
toral conference met at Crawfordsville on the third 
day of the Annual conference session, Friday, the 
8th of September. The following is a full list of 
the Northwest Indiana conference delegates to the 
general conference of 1872: Clerical, — Allen A. 
Gee, Joseph C. Reed, Nelson L. Brakeman, Samuel 
Godfrey; Reserves, — Aaron Wood, Luther Taylor ; 
Lay,— Henry S. Lane, John Brownfield; Reserves, — 
Mark Jones, L. B. Sims. During the quadrennium, 
closing in 1872 there was an almost alarming mor- 
tality among the bishops of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church. 

Bishop Thomson, who died near Wheeling, W. 
Va., March 22, 1870, was a marked man in many 



332 INDIANA METHODISM, 

respects. To the men who knew that great man of 
God, nothing needs to be said; but the younger men 
now in the active work, and the preachers to come 
after them, would do well to study the life story of 
Edward Thompson. Bishop Thompson was born 
in Portsea, England, October 12, 18 to; he was a 
relative of James Thompson, the author of "The 
Seasons." He came to America in 1818, and the 
family located in Wooster, Ohio, in 1820. He be- 
came a practicing physician, and his medical studies 
and associations developed in him a strong bias 
toward skepticism. On Sunday, December n, 
1831, he was converted, on his knees, after reading 
the Epistle of James; then and there he consecrat- 
ed his life to God, and became a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. Some of his friends 
were opposed to his joining the Methodist church, 
but he ansv/ered them by saying, "The Methodists 
are a people who make a business of religion." 
His parents were Baptists, and his father consented 
with reluctance to his son's becoming a Methodist. 
He was baptized April 9, 1832, and licensed to 
exhort the next day; on July 1, 1832, he was licensed 
to preach, and was admitted on trial at Dayton, 
Ohio, in September, 1832. His first year in the con- 
ference was with H. O. Sheldon, preacher-in-charge; 
he was afterwards stationed with Joseph M. 
Trimble in Cincinnati, and the next year served 
the church in Sandusky City; for some time he was 
pastor of the church at Detroit, Mich.; became prin- 
cipal of Norwalk seminary; he was elected editor of 
the Ladies Repository in 1844; from '46 to '59. was 
president of Ohio Wesleyan university; became ed- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 333 

itor of the Christian Advocate at New York in i860, 
and, at the General conference at Philadelphia 
in 1864, bishop of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. 

Perhaps the highest achievements of Dr. Thom- 
son were in the department of education. Here he 
seemed a prince in his native domain. He ruled by 
the charms of personal goodness, by the magic 
spell of an inimitable character. He taught with 
facility, and made every topic luminous by fertility 
and aptness of illustration. Many of the men who 
have given character to the North Ohio conference 
were educated, partially or wholly, at the Norwalk 
seminary during his presidency. As Bishop he be- 
longed to the whole church. He dearly loved his 
friends in Ohio, where perhaps he accomplished the 
best work of his life. It grieved him to think of 
making a home for his family in a distant State. 
This writer remembers with distinctiveness a remark 
of Dr. Thompson's, when he was elected editor of 
the Christian Advocate at Buffalo in i860; a position 
he did not seek and accepted with reluctance. After 
his election, his friends seeing that he seemed rather 
despondent, rallied about him and said: "We have 
no fears of you, you will succeed as editor." The 
Doctor replied : "By God's help I will run it 
through or it shall run me through." The saintly 
man has found his exceeding and great reward in 
heaven. 

Calvin Kingsley was elected Bishop, also, at Phila- 
delphia, in 1864. He was born in 1812, and died at 
Beyroot, Syria, April 6, 1870. Bishop Kingsley was 
an amiable and loveable man; unpretentious, yet 



334 INDIANA METHODISM, 

scholarly, and always sweet-spirited. He was an 
active worker, impelled by strong convictions, 
in behalf of the liberation of the slaves. As editor of 
the Western Christian Advocate he had ample op- 
portunity for the exercise of his powers as a writer, 
and, under his management, that paper never gave 
out an uncertain sound on the moral questions of 
the day or failed in loyalty to the Methodist Epis- 
copal church. As a bishop he was kind and con- 
ciliatory, genial and frank. He had what might 
be called a hatred of anything in the church repre- 
senting, or even squinting towards "a third order" 
in the Methodist ministry, or pointing to a 
"hierarchy" in the Church of his early choice, for 
whose interests, in the work of the ministry, he 
had labored so faithfully and successfully from his 
youth up. He was loveable in his life, and died la- 
mented by all that knew him. 

Davis W. Clark, one of the bishops of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, was born in the State of 
Maine, November 25, 1812, and died at his home in 
Cincinnati, Ohio, of disease of the heart, May 23, 
1 87 1. He graduated from the Wesleyan univer- 
sity, Middletown, Conn., in 1843. He was admitted 
into the New York conference, and, after filling five 
appointments in the conference, he was appointed 
to the editorship of the "Ladies Repository," which 
position he held till 1864, when he was elected 
bishop. He took an active part, after the war, in 
the re- organization of the work in the South. He 
was president of the Freedmen's Aid society, and 
an institution of learning in the South bears his 
name. He was regarded as a scholarly man, a clear 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 335 

thinker, with but little animation in his preaching, 
-a friend to learning, and an earnest supporter of the 
schools and colleges of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. 

Osmon Cleander Baker, a bishop of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church, was born in Marlow, New 
Hampshire, July 30, 1812; and died in Concord, N. 
H., December 20, 1871. At the age of fifteen he 
was placed in the Wilbraham academy, where, soon 
after, he wasconverted and received into the church 
by Dr. Fisk, the principal of the school. He was 
licensed as an exhorter when seventeen years of 
age. In 1830 he entered the Wesleyan university 
where he remained three years. While in college 
he was licensed as a local preacher. In 1834, he be- 
came a teacher in the seminary of Newburry, Ver" 
mont; and, after about ten years in the work of 
teaching, he was appointed pastor of the church 
at Rochester, N. H., and in 1845, of the 
church in Manchester, N. H., both charges of the 
New Hampshire and Vermont conferences. In 
1846 he was appointed presiding elder of the Dover 
district, but after a year, accepted a professorship in 
the Biblical Institute at Concord, N. H., in which 
city he henceforth resided until his death. At the 
general conference at Boston in 1852, he was elect- 
ed a bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
and the Northwest Indiana was the first conference 
over which he presided, organized and held, as be- 
fore stated, at Terre Haute. Bishop Baker, while 
he was not what would be called a great preacher, 
was a man of tender sensibilities, loveable disposi- 
tion, accurate in his rulings on questions of church 



336 INDIANA METHODISM, 

law, and was highly esteemed and much loved by 
the preachers, wherever he went. 

The general conference of 1872 was remarkable 
mainly for two things: 1st. The admission of 
laymen as delegates. The only power to bring 
about this fundamental change in the church polity 
rested wholly in the ministry; and while the lay- 
men have not been fully satisfied with their position, 
yet the action of the ministry in which they volun- 
tarily divided with their lay brethren their powers 
a5 rulers in the church might be set down as, per- 
haps, the eighth wonder of the world. It is a trite 
saying that all men love power, and it is an exceed- 
ingly rare and unusual thing for anyone in author- 
ity to yield or divide that authority with any other. 
It is therefore a sublime spectacle that the ministry 
of the Methodist Episcopal church, without com- 
pulsion, willingly said to their lay brethern, "Come 
over and help us." As revolutions rarely go back- 
ward so the good work will, doubtless go on, until by 
the plan of organizing the General conference in- 
to two houses, the decrease of the clerical numbers, 
or the increase of the lay, there will result such a 
division of power as shall bring about perfect 
equality, "for we be brethern." 

2nd. The election of so large a number of 
bishops. The General conference seemed to have 
been stricken with a panic, or alarmed by the fact 
that four of the bishops hail passed to their reward 
since 1868. One brother naively remarked that in 
the election of eight bishops he feared the church 
had "Overdrawn its account with the Lord." 

By the death of Bishop Thomson, Kingsley, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 337 

Clark and Baker, only five remained, viz., Morris, 
Janes, Scott, Simpson, and Ames. To this number 
the conference added Thomas Bowman, William L. 
Harris, Randolph S. Foster, Isaac W. Wiley, 
Stephen M. Merrill, Edward G. Andrews, Gilbert 
Haven, and Jesse T. Peck. 

At the session of the Northwest Indiana confer- 
ence, held by Bishop Janes at Thorntown, Septem- 
ber 4-9, 1872, there were eight admitted on trial, 
not one of whom remains in the conference at this 
writing, 1892. 

Alexander B. Bruner is a member of the Colo- 
rado conference, where he is an acceptable and use- 
ful preacher. 

Winfield S. Crow is, or has been, preaching for the 
Universalists or Unitarians, and it is not very ma- 
terial which. 

Andrew J. Clifton is a born revivalist, and is still 
■doing good work in Nebraska. 

Franklin Mikels is a good man, a good preacher, 
and was successful in the active work, but is now on 
the supernumerary list, with his residence at Stock- 
well. 

John Blackstock, about ten years a missionary in 
India, returned to his old conference a few years 
ago, remaining about two years, and then returning 
to India, a true and faithful man of God. 

Henry A. Buchtel, an alumnus of Asbury, now 
De Pauw, university, was sent to Bulgaria as a 
missionary, soon returned to America ; occupied 
•several among our best stations ; was in Denver; 
Colorado, several years, and is now stationed in one 
of the city churches in Indianapolis. He is scholar- 



33^ INDIANA METHODISM, 

ly, kind hearted, brotherly, an able preacher, suc- 
cessful and popular wherever he has labored. 

James N. Beard, also, was admitted at this con- 
ference, of whom mention has already been made. 

Brother Thomas Meredith was re-admitted on his 
certificate of location. 

T. C. Webster, a most excellent brother, a fine 
preacher, a very loveable man, was transferred some 
years ago to Nebraska, and is now the efificent and 
popular pastor of one of the churches in the city of 
Omaha. During that year, that is to say, in the 
winter of '72-3, a glorious revival took place in the 
city of Crawfordsville, where J. L. Smith was pre- 
siding elder, and Rev. S. Beck, D. D., preacher-in- 
charge. For the first week or ten days of the 
meetings they were held as union meetings between 
the Methodists and Presbyterians, and part of the 
time in one church and then in the other. On a 
certain occasion during the revival, and while the- 
meeting was being held in the Methodist church, a 
noteworthy circumstance took place, which is here 
given. In the Methodist church the choir and or- 
gan had been, for years, situated in the end gallery. 
Among the members of the choir were two or three- 
persons who were not members of any church, 
while the organist, a most excellent Christian lady, 
was a member of the Baptist church. Some of the 
more scrupulous, not to say sectarian, among the 
official members, were much opposed to any one's 
taking part in the music who was not a member of 
the church. The matter was, from time to time, 
discussed in the official meetings, and at least one 
member of that body determined that the choir 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 339 

should be brought down out of the gallery, and that 
all persons not members of the church should be 
eliminated therefrom. The following evening, after 
a somewhat stormy debate over the question in the 
official board, it fell to the lotof the presiding elder 
to preach. Seeing "the impending crisis" he, in a 
quiet way, visited the organist and chorister, and 
arranged with them, during the afternoon, to move 
the organ down from the gallery, and place it in 
what was called the "Amen corner," on the left-hand 
side of the pulpit; and he further arranged with 
them to be present, and hold a service of song, 
beginning immediately after the ringing of the 
first bell. As the congregation gathered all were 
surprised, and none more so than the irate official 
member alluded to, to see the organ and choir en- 
gaged with animation, leading the congregation, 
and sitting near the pulpit. The chorister, Mr. G., 
though not a member of the church, had an excel- 
lent Christian wife, who was also a member of the 
choir;he himself was a man of correct morals, but not 
a Christian. After the opening prayer in the evening 
the preacher requested the choir to lead in singing 
the well-known song, "The old, old story." During 
the singing of this song the chorister broke down 
and burst into tears, the other unconverted mem- 
bers of the choir became deeply moved and much 
agitated, and before the meeting closed they were 
both converted, and received as members of the 
church. This result dissipated all opposition to the 
choir, and, through the power of the blessed gospel 
of love, all became sweet harmony again. 

In 1873, beginning on the 10th of September, the 



340 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Northwest Indiana conference was held in South 
Bend, Bishop Simpson in the chair, with J. C. Reed, 
secretary. At this conference their came in by 
transfer, Isaac Dale, from Illinois, I M. Van Arsdal, 
from upper Iowa ; and by re-admission, W. W. 
Jones. Eleven persons were admitted on trial ; and 
of these the following remain with the conference at 
this writing, 1892 : Allen Lewis, W. H. Hickman, 
H. M. Middleton, Jeptha Boicourt, and G. R. Street- 
er. 

Brother Lewis has from the beginning been one 
of the most useful and successful preachers and pas- 
tors in the conference. After serving in several im- 
portant appointments he closed, at the last session 
of the conference, a full term of five years at Brazil, 
and is now on his first year in the city of Valparaiso. 
He is a man of vigorous health, weighing about two 
and forty pounds, with a mind well trained by thor- 
ough study ; he is a very able and sound gospel 
preacher. He everywhere makes the impression 
among the people that he is a man of God, and, in 
his personal religious experience, he has a conscious 
knowledge of what is meant by a true New Testi- 
ment conversion and entire consecration to God, 
and the Holy work of the ministry. Long may he 
live to bless the Church and honor the cause of his 
Master. 

W. H. Hickman, after several years labor in In- 
diana, serving the church at West LaFayette, Frank- 
fort, South Bend, and three years on the Crawfordsville 
district, is now president of Clark university, Atlan- 
ta, Georgia. 

H. M. Middleton is a man of a "meek and quiet 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 341 

spirit" ; a pleasant Christian gentleman, much loved 
by the people where he has served as pastor ; a clear 
thinker, a sound preacher, arid a good man. He is 
now the useful and popular presiding elder of Craw- 
fordsville district, "worthy and well qualified," re- 
spected and loved by preachers and people. 

Brother Boicourt is a good man and a good 
preacher, but of feeble health ; his name now stands 
on the superannuated list. 

Brother G. R. Streeter is now on his third year 
at Hammond station. He has had a good run of 
appointments ; is a man of fair education, industrious, 
affable and gentlemanly. He is a profuse reader ; 
a good preacher and faithful pastor ; makes friends 
everywhere ; and has, from the beginning, had suc- 
cess in his work. 

Isaac Dale commenced his labors as a preacher 
in the Illinois conference ; was transferred to the 
Northwest Indiana conference and appointed to 
Brookston circuit ; afterwards was stationed at Good- 
land, Perrysville, Attica, Delphi, LaPorte, Thorn- 
town ; and is now pastor of Asbury church in the 
city of Terre Haute. He is conscientious and de- 
vout as a Christian ; faithful in his work as a pastor; 
a good preacher, and successful in winning souls to 
Christ. 

Brother Van Arsdal's career was brief. He was 
much loved ; was a good man and a fair preacher ; 
he died young, leaving an unblemished life-record. 

Brother Jones has been on the retired list for sev- 
eral years ; a good man and faithful ; for several 
years has lived in Florida, where, it is understood, 
he has organized a strong society, and been instru- 



342 INDIANA METHODISM, 

mental in building a handsome house of worship. 

One death was reported at this conference, viz., 
Rev. Moses Blackstock, who came, many years ago 
from Canada. He had spent a long and useful life 
in the work of the Lord, and peacefully passed away 
at Paxton, Illinois, August 31, 1873. 

This writer closed his full term of four years as 
presiding elder on the Crawfordsville district at the 
conference held in LaFayette, September 9-14, 
1874, Bishop Wiley in the chair. Of the thirteen ad- 
mitted on trial at this conference the following per- 
sons remain, and are in the active work : Delos M. 
Wood, J. C. Martin, and Aaron W. Wood. 

Brother Aaron W. Wood is now the acceptable 
and useful pastor at the Ninth st. church LaFayette, 
and among the younger or middle aged men of the 
conference, is, for ability, usefulness, and success as 
a Methodist preacher, the equal of any man of his 
age in the conference. He never fails to make his 
mark and bring things to pass wherever he goes. 

Brother J. C. Martin is one among the best men 
in the conference ; where he has traveled he is so 
successful and so much loved by the people that, if 
possible, they never fail to hold him for the full time 
alloted by the law of limitation. He is now on the 
Dayton and Mulberry charge, having in the fall of 
1891 closed a full term of five years as pastor at 
Rossville, one of the best circuits in the conference. 

Rev. D. M. Wood, A. M., is an alumnus of Asbury, 
now DePauw university. He took rank from the 
beginning, and, after successfully laboring for a num- 
ber of years in some of the promising stations of the 
conference, was appointed, at the session of 1891, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 34.3 

by Bishop Ninde, presiding elder of the Greencastle 
district. He has entered on his work with vigor, 
and will, doubtless, make a useful and popular pre- 
siding elder. 

Three deaths were reported that year, George W. 
Warner, David Holmes, and J. Spinks. 

Brother Warner was born in Ohio, October 15, 
1817; converted and joined the M. E. Church in 1836. 
He was licensed to preach in April 1840 by presid- 
ing elder Aaron Wood, and appointed as a supply 
on South Bend circuit. He was a good man, useful 
in his work, and much loved by the people where- 
ever he went. As a preacher Brother Warner was 
scriptural, clear, pathetic, earnest, and successful. 
As a pastor he was vigilant, with tender regard for 
his flock ; as a friend, he was constant and true ; as 
a husband, tender and effectionate ; as a Christian, 
conscientious, true, unobtrusive, and earnest. He 
departed this life, to find his reward in heaven, on 
the 30th day of April, 1874. 

Dr. David Holmes passed away November 14, 
1873: He was born in Newburg, New York, March 
16, 18 10. He was converted in early life, and ad- 
mitted on trial in the Oneida conference in 1834 ; 
transferred to the Southern Illinois conference in 
1855 ; and in i860 was transferred to the Northwest 
Indiana conference, and appointed to LaPorte sta- 
tion. Dr. Holmes was an able preacher, a ripe 
scholar; a thorough educator, and a respectable au- 
thor. His death was peaceful and happy. 

Brother Spinks was a useful and successful Meth- 
odist preacher ; he was licensed to preach in 185 1 .; 
in 1863 he was superannuated. He was ordained 



344 INDIANA METHODISM, 

both deacon and elder by Bishop Ames. For some 
ten years before his death he was sorely afflicted, 
but was, in all those years, a patient and uncom- 
plaining sufferer. During his last illness his soul 
was filled with the glory of God, and he frequently 
expressed himself as willing to depart and be with 
Christ. 

The appointments of the West LaFayette dis- 
trict for the next year were as follow : John L. 
Smith, presiding elder ; Chauncy, W. H. Hickman ; 
Battle Ground, W. Beckner ; Battle Ground Cir- 
cuit, H. M. Middleton ; Brookston, Isaac Dale ; Rey- 
nolds and VVolcott, J. R. Baker; Bradford and Fran- 
cisville, J. B. Smith ; MedaryvilleJ. J. Hines ; Rens- 
selaer, to be supplied ; Morocco, A. L. Backus, J. 
C. Martin ; Beaver Lake, to be supplied ; Kentland, 
H. N. Ogden ; Kentland Circuit. A. W. Wood ; 
Goodland, J. M. Stafford ; Aydelotte, W. G. Benton; 
Remington, E. A. Andrew; Fowler and Earl Park, 
J. Blackstock ; Oxford, D. G. LeSourd ; Boswell, 
R. T. Pressley ; Pine village, \V. Crapp ; Montmor- 
ency, N. A. Chamberlain ; F. J. Tolby.Missionary to 
New Mexico ; G. W. Rice, Principal of Battle Ground 
Institute. 

Rev. J. B. Smith was among those admitted on 
trial that year, and, as above noted, received his 
first appointment to Bradford and Francisville 
charge. J. B. Smith is a true man, a devoted Christian, 
an excellent preacher, and every way well qualified 
to do successful work, as he has ever done, and con- 
tinues to do. He is a man of unflinching integrity, 
can be trusted anywhere and at all times. After 
faithful and successful service in all the years, from 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 345 

1874 to 1891, after nearly completing a very hand- 
some and commodious church at Hebron, he was 
transferred by Bishop Fowler,and stationed at Payne, 
in the Central Ohio conference, where he is still 
battling for the Lord, and building up the Redeem- 
er's Kingdom. 

The session of the Northwest Indiana conference 
for 1875 was held at Greencastle, Indiana, Septem- 
ber 8-13, Bishop Janes in the chair. Of the seven- 
teen admitted on trial only one remains with the 
conference to-day, viz., Salem B. Town. 

Brother Town is a graduate from Asbury, now De- 
Pauw university. He is now stationed at College 
Avenue, Greencastle. His father was a prominent 
physician and also a distinguished layman in the 
church. His honored son also studied medicine, and, 
for a time, was engaged in the practice of his pro- 
fession. Brother Town's first pastoral charge was 
Argos circuit ; since which time he has served as 
pastor in several of the principal stations of the con- 
ference. He is a pleasantand polite Christian gentle- 
man. As a preacher, he is chaste, scholarly, ener- 
getic, and effective ; he is, in all respects, every 
inch a man. For a number of years he has been 
the faithful, correct, and popular treasurer of the An- 
nual conference ; and at the session of 1891 was 
elected as first Reserve delegate to the General 
conference of 1892. 

At this conference (1875) was reported the death 
of two among the venerable and highly respected 
members of the General conference, viz., Joseph 
White and Daniel DeMotte. 

Brother White, while not brilliant or remarkable 



J46 INDIANA METHODISM, 

m any way as a preacher, except for plainness of 
speech, was an old-fashioned, pioneer Methodist 
preacher. He came from Green county, Ohio, to 
Indiana, in an early day, having just money enough 
on arriving in the new country to enter eighty acres 
of government land, as he did, in Montgomery 
county. He was born in Mifflin county, Penn., in 
1805, and removed thence with his father's family to 
Ohio, in 18 1 2 ; joined the Indiana conference at its 
organization in 1832. He traveled a large number 
of very laborious circuits with very meager pecuni- 
ary compensation for his toil. For the most part, 
during the years of his active itinerancy, his family 
lived on the farm, where they first settled, in the 
woods. For a number of years, the latter years of 
his life, he sustained a superannuated relation ; in 
peaceful hope of the blessed immortality he passed 
from earth to heaven, November 27, 1875. His last 
words were, "Come, Jesus take me." 

Daniel DeMotte was a unique character. He had 
but few educational advantages in early life ; he, 
nevertheless, accumulated a large stock of useful 
knowledge. It was the pleasure of this writer to be 
associated with him at least one year, while he was 
in charge of the Belmore circuit. 

His second quarterly meeting, for that year, was 
held in the early spring, and, in reporting the Sun- 
day-schools of his charge, he made no exception of 
those in the country, which had suspended opera- 
tion during the winter. When he finished his re- 
port, Brother S., one of the stewards, arose and said 
he wished to correct the preacher's report, for, said 
he, "He reported four Sunday-schools, when we only 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 347 

have two, the other two being suspended for the 
winter." Upon which the grand old pioneer preach- 
er, ever ready in wit, remarked by way of reply to 
Brother S., "You say, if a Sunday-school doesn't run 
through the winter, it is not a Sunday-school, and 
ought not to be reported. Now I wish to know, if a 
bear goes up into his hollow in the fall and stays 
there all winter, whether he isn't as much of a bear 
while he is in the hollow as when he comes out in 
the spring? And so also, I understand it to be with 
the Sunday-school suspended in the winter." It is 
enough to say there was no further controversy 
touching the preachers report. 

Brother DeMotte was also equal to the occasion 
in thepulpit, in pastoral work, on the conference 
floor, or in the private circle. Among his other pe- 
culiarities, if it might be called a peculiarity, he had 
a fixed and abiding dislike for dogs. 

On one occasion he and the presiding elder were 
invited to the home of a very clever family living 
on a farm. It so happened that very soon after their 
arrival one of the little boys of the family, with great 
animation and apparent joy, brought in from one of 
the neighbors a young puppy, at which Brother D. 
frowned rather than smiled. The sister at once 
took charge of the prize, and undertook to have the 
dog drink milk, which she found a rather difficult 
task. Meanwhile the baby was fretting and crying for 
the want of some needed attention of the mother. The 
presiding elder watched Brother D. with no little 
interest ; for he, too, equally disliked anything be- 
longing to the canine race. At length Brother De- 
Motte, who, as it would seem could endure it no 



348 INDIANA METHODISM, 

longer, said to the good woman, "Sister, it does 
seem to me that this dear baby in the cradle here is 
as much entitled to care and consideration as a dog." 
To this, with considerable warmth, the Sister re- 
sponded, "Brother DeMotte, I would like to know 
what in this world makes you hate dogs as you do ?" 
"Well," said the old gentleman very calmly, "Sister, 
I have two reasons for not liking a dog : in the first 
place, I don't like a dog because he is a dog ; and, 
secondly, I think, if you farmers over here in Parke 
county would raise more sheep and fewer dogs, the 
result would be, you would have fewer fleas and 
more stocking yarn." 

Once, after his superannuation, when his name 
was called in the Annual conference, he made the 
following report : "The superannuate, Mr. Presi- 
dent, sustains, as I find, a very peculiar relation to 
the church. He has nothing to do, nothing to do it 
with, and gets no pay for doing it. I was happy in 
the active work. I am happy in this my superan- 
uate relation." 

Brother DeMotte was for a number of years a 
very active and efficient agent of the Indiana Asbury 
university. If this writer were called upon to de- 
termine the question, who were the principal men 
concerned in founding, and afterwards financially 
sustaining, that institution ? he would give it as his 
judgment that the three men entitled to the most 
credit for their herculean labors, would stand in the 
order as here named : Samuel C. Cooper, Daniel 
DeMotte, and Isaac Owen. Brother DeMotte was 
born in Mercer county, Ky., March 19, 1798. He 
was converted in the twenty- eighth year of his age 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 349 

and at once became a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church ; he removed to Park county, In- 
diana, in 183 1 ; was soon licensed to preach and ap- 
pointed to Rockville circuit. Trusted, tried and 
true, he maintained, through his long life, to the day 
of his death, the highest distinction as a man of 
sterling worth, unflinching integrity, and a large 
share of good common sense. He succeeded well 
in raising a highly respectable family. His cultured 
daughters and noble sons now rise up and call him 
blessed, — blessed for the sacrifices he made to give 
them a liberal education, and for having taught 
them the right ways of the Lord. He closed his 
life November 2, 1875, and his last words were, "All 
is well ! All is well ! Blessed Jesus!" 

The delegates to the General conference to meet 
in Baltimore, in May, 1876, were as follow: J. L. 
Smith, C. A. Brooke, Aaron Wood • reserves, I. W. 
Joyce, William Graham. The lay delegates were 
James F. Darnall, Jesse Meharry ; reserves, J. Q. A. 
Perrin, L. B. Sims. 

The venerable Thomas A. Morris, so long a fa- 
miliar figure in the General conference, and, for a 
number of years, the senior bishop, was sadly missed, 
especially by the older members of the conference. 
He closed his long life and valuable labors in Sep- 
tember, 1874, in the eighty-first year of his age. The 
life and labors of this grand man and minister — au- 
thor, editor, circuit preacher, stationed preacher, 
presiding elder, and bishop, are too well known to 
be reported in detail here. He was a special and 
personal friend of the writer of these pages. He 
was remarkable for his laconic and crisp sentences 



350 INDIANA METHODISM, 

in preaching ; it was a remark of his that he never 
felt in preaching that he had said anything that, 
then and there, was worth repeating. In corre- 
spondence he was brief and to the point. His fa- 
miliarity with the laws and general polity of the 
Methodist Episcopal church caused him to be looked 
upon as next to an oracle on any and all questions 
which might rise in the administration of the dis- 
cipline. In short he was looked upon in his day as 
standing without a peer as an ecclesiastical jurist 
in the Methodist Episcopal church. 

The leading question of discussion in the General 
conference of 1876 was the presiding eldership. It 
was found very early in the session that there was 
a well organized force, determined if pos- 
sible to force the question through, making that of- 
fice directly or indirectly elective by the Annual 
conference. The friends of the measure exhausted 
their skill in defense of their favorite notion ; and 
this writer, in seeing and hearing, and in a humble 
way supporting the opposition to this scheme, was 
happy when the collapse came, in the failure of the 
measure. 

On the fourteenth day of the session J. L. Smith 
offered the following Preamble and resolutions, 
which were referred to the committee on the state 
of the church : 

Whereas, As "embassadors" of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, we are acting under the high commission, 
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to 
every creature ;" and, 

Whereas, Our itinerant evangelical labor for and 
care of the flocks over which the Holy Ghost hath 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 35 I 

make us overseers is of the issue of the great com- 
mission, and should be maintained in tact ; and, 

Whereas, The high places of honor and trust, 
such as that of Agents, Editors, and Missionary Sec- 
retaries, have enough in them to allure the Pastor, 
and lead him to desire such positions, even without 
unjust discriminations in his favor in the matter of 
salary ; therefore, 

Resolved, 1. That we have, as we have ever had, 
an abiding conviction that the itinerant system in 
the Methodist Episcopal church should be maintain- 
ed in all its vigor, and handed down to the genera- 
tions following unimpaired as we received it from 
the fathers. 

Resolved, 2. That the Book Committee, or 
those to whom shall be committed the duty of fix- 
ing the salaries of the General conference officers 
hereafter to be elected, are hereby instructed to 
fix said salaries so as to make them equal to but 
not above the average salary of the pastor or pas- 
tors in the town or city where any such General 
conference officers may reside. 

On May 20, C. A. Brook offered the following pre- 
amble and resolutions, which were referred to the 
Committee on Missions : 

Whereas, Our missionary treasury is deeply in- 
volved in debt ; and, 

Whereas, The financial condition ofthe whole 
country is such that we cannot hope for largely in- 
creased collections ; therefore, 

Resolved, I. That the most careful economy 
should be employed in the management and expen - 
ditures of our missionary funds. 



3 52 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Resolved, 2. That we recommend to our Mission- 
ary Secretaries and Board of Managers to devise 
means whereby intelligence of our missionary work 
and wants may be more generally diffused among 
our people. 

Resolved, 3. That while we are always glad to re- 
ceive the visits of the Missionary Secretaries at our 
Annual conferences, yet we do not believe these 
visitations as productive of sufficient amount of good 
to justify their uniform continuance. 

Resolved, 4. That we recommend that the Bish- 
ops so arrange their work that they may be able to 
attend the missionary anniversaries at all our Annual 
conferences, and that they furnish to these confer- 
ence auxiliaries all needed information in regard to 
our missionary operations and wants. 

It may not be regarded as out of place to refer to 
an incident which took place during the session at 
Greencastle in 1875, with its sequel at Baltimore in 
1876. When the conference was fixing the relations 
of the preachers, the case of good Brother B. came 
before the conference for consideration. He was 
among the superannuated, but greatly desired "to 
be made effective." This brother, though evidently 
suffering under the infirmities of age, stoutly main- 
tained that he was fully able for the work, and at 
his earnest solicitation — largely through sympathy 
of course — the conference granted his request. 
At the next meeting of the cabinet Bish- 
op Janes seemed to be a good deal disturb- 
ed over this case and said : "Brother Smith, I am 
astonished at you to lead out and use your influence 
in putting that poor diseased man where we are 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 353 

bound to find a place for him." To this Brother S. 
replied : "Bishop, my heart was touched and I 
could not well do otherwise." The Bishop replying 
with a good deal of warmth said, "Sympathy ! what 
has sympathy to do with a case of this kind ? Would 
a General commanding an army put a crippled or 
disabled soldier in the front of the battle ? or would 
he leave him in the camp or hospital ? We must 
learn brothers, to bring only such men to the front 
as can do effective service in the work of the Lord." 
When the same good bishop appeared before the 
committee on episcopacy at Baltimore, to answer 
some inquiries in regard to his ability to continue in 
the effective service as a bishop, while perhaps the 
entire committee knew that he was physically un- 
able to do effective service, yet, like Brother B., and 
most old and infirm men, he believed himself to be 
able to perform as effective service as at any time 
in his life and so stated. The high respect and 
brotherly love, and, above all, the deep sympathy 
that the committee felt for the grand and good man, 
resulted in their reporting the bishop effective. 
This writer thought the opportunity too good to be 
lost, and so made it convenient, as the bishop re- 
tired from the room, to accompany him to the street, 
kindly taking him by the arm and saying : "Bishop, 
you remember the case of Brother B. at our confer- 
enc, do you not ? and now don't you think that, af- 
ter all, the sympathy of your brethren is a pretty 
good thing ?" And so it is, it always did make a 
difference as to "whose ox is gored." 

The General Book Committee appointed in 1876, 
consisting of one member from each General Con- 



354 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ference District, was as follows : First District, Ami 
Prince ; Second District, Jacob B. Graw ; Third Dis- 
trict, Sanford Hunt ; Fourth District, Thompson 
Mitchell ; Fifth District, Lucius C Matlack ; Sixth 
District, Fernandes C. Holliday ; Seventh Dis- 
trict, William Brush ; Eighth District, John 
L. Smith ; Ninth District, William P. Stowe ; 
Tenth District, William S. Prentice ; Eleventh Dis- 
trict, William B. Slaughter ; Twelfth District, Will- 
iam Koeneke. 

The Committee was organized by electing J. L. 
Smith, chairman ; L. C. Matlack, secretary. Soon 
after the third annual meeting of the Book com- 
mittee, Rev. Reuben Nelson D. D., the senior book- 
agent at New York, died, viz., Nov. 20, 1879. This 
sad event made it necessary for the chairman of the 
Book committee to call together the members of 
the committee, and also invite the bishops to be 
present at the meeting, in the City of New York, on 
a given day, to fill the vacancy caused by the death 
of Dr. Nelson. At the opening of the meeting the 
chairman, in stating the object of the meeting, viz., 
to fill the vacancy, among other things, said, that, 
according to the language of the law, the bishops 
were there, not simply for the purpose of ratifying 
what the committee should do, as in some other 
cases made and provided, but that they were there 
as a part of the committee, two or more of them, 
which might include all, and that it was their right 
to vote in filling the vacancy as it was the right of 
any member of the committee. To this ruling ex- 
ceptions were taken and the point for a time was 
warmly contested by a certain layman, who 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 355 

was very sure that the ruling of the chair was wrong. 
Quite a number of the bishops being present, the 
chair stated that he would like to have an expres- 
sion of the bishops on the ruling.when Bishop Scott 
arose, and asked leave of absence for the bishops 
for a few minutes. The confident brother layman, 
meanwhile, reiterating that he was right and the 
chair was wrong. In a very few minutes the bishops 
returned to the room, and Bishop Scott, the senior, 
addressing the chair, said : ''After a little reflection, 
and examining the language of the law, we unani- 
mously sustain the ruling of the chair." And so the 
present energetic and faithful Dr. S. Hunt was 
elected to fill the vacancy. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

BATTLE GROUND 1876— BISHOP SIMPSON. 

Beginning August 30th, i876,the Northwest Indi- 
ana conference was held by Bishop Simpson at 
Tippecanoe Battle Ground. Of the four who were 
admitted, Brother J. J. Thompson only, remains 
with the conference. 

Rev. J. A. Cullen, who was admitted at this time, 
was afterwards transferred to Colorado ; he returned 
to Indiana a few years ago, took a regular course in 
the DePauw university, and, after graduation, was 
received into the Indiana conference. From the 
beginning Brother Cullen has been a successful 



356 INDIANA METHODISM, 

soul-winner; he is nbw,with his advantages of higher 
education, rapidly becoming one of the leading men 
of his conference, and is still successful in revivals 
and in gathering members into the church. 

Brother Thompson is a great worker,and perhaps, 
in all the years of his life as a traveling preacher, 
never did better work than during the last confer- 
ence year on Morocco circuit. He was instrumental 
in the erection of a beautiful house of worship at 
what is known as the North Star appointment ; he 
repaired and renovated the Russel chapel and the 
church at Mt. Ayr,and built a beautiful and commo- 
dious church at Morocco, the head of the circuit. 
He is now on the Medaryville circuit, among bis old 
friends and former parishioners, and is still battling 
for the Lord. 

The death of Brother F. J. Tolby and Melville 
Van Arsdal was reported, of whom mention has al- 
ready been made. 

The session of the conference was a very pleasant 
one. Bishop Simpson preached grandly on the Sab- 
bath to thousands of admiring friends. 

The appointments were, in part, as follow : 

Crawfordsville District, W. R. Mikels ; Lafayette 
DistrictJ. W. T. McMullen; East Lafayette District, 
A. A. Gee; Greencastle District, C. A. Brooke ;Terre 
Haute District, J. W. Greene ; LaPorte District, G. 
M. Boyd ; Valparaiso District, R. D. Utter; Battle 
Ground DistrictJ. L. Smith. Battle Ground Station, 
W. Beckner ; Battle Ground Circuit, H. M. Middle- 
ton; Chauncey, Charles E. Lambert; Montmorency, 
W. A. Smith; Pine Village, William Crapp; Boswell, 
James T. Stafford ; Fowler and Oxford, Franklin 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 357 

Taylor ; Brookston, W. W. Barnard ; Templeton, 
J. C. Martin, J. A. Cullen; Wolcott and Reynolds, J. 
J. Thompson ; Medaryville, B. H. Bradbury ; Brad- 
ford, to be supplied ; Rensselaer, Thomas Vanscoy ; 
Morocco, A. W. Wood, one to be supplied ; Beaver 
Lake and Kankakee Mission, to be supplied ; Rem- 
ington, G. A. Blackstock ; Goodland, Joseph Fox- 
worthy; Kentland, C. B. Mock, C. A. Howells; G.W. 
Rice, Principal of Battle Ground Collegiate Institute. 

Bishop Merrill held the conference in the City of 
LaPorte commencing September 12, 1877. No one 
of the three admitted at the time remain in the con- 
ference now. 

Brother Wesley F. Clark, a faithful and good man, 
after years of faithful service, was, in the fall of 1891, 
transferred to Puget Sound conference. 

One death was reported viz., Thomas S. Webb. 
As a revivalist Brother Webb had few equals in his 
conference. While he could not be called a great 
preacher, he was a great pastor ; he was loved and 
honored wherever he went,and never failed anywhere 
to succeed in winning souls to Christ and build up 
the church. He was born in Bellbrook, Ohio, Octo- 
ber 28,1813, and died in Lebanon, Indiana, March 31, 
1877. The acquaintance of this writer with Brother 
Webb commenced in Union county, Indiana, in the 
fall or winter of 1840 — 41. That acquaintance was 
renewed in 1846, when he removed and settled in 
Cambridge City, Wayne county, where he carried 
on blacksmithing six days in the week, preached, ex- 
horted, sang and prayed at two or three meetings 
on Sunday. He was present and participated in 
the meeting at the village of Dublin, where then 



358 INDIANA METHODISM, 

lived John R. Tansey, pastor, William F. Wheeler.a 
superannuate member of the conference, and J. L. 
Smith, College agent. At that meeting, among the 
many converted to God, was Rev. F. A. Harden, so 
well known as one of the most successful evangelists 
in all Methodism, and now the popular and useful 
presiding elder of Freeport district, the Rock River 
conference. 

Brother Webb was, soon after the meeting referred 
to, admitted to the conference, and ever after,through 
all the years of his ministry, went, as the flaming 
herald that he was, from one charge to another; and 
many, very many, now rise up and call him blessed 
as the instrument in the hands of the Lord in lead- 
ing them to Christ. At his request this writer con- 
ducted his funeral services, which were attended 
by hundreds of his loving and weeping friends. 

In 1878 the session of the Northwest Indiana con- 
ference was presided over by Bishop Jesse T. Peck, 
at Brazil, Indiana, beginning September n. 

Of the eight admitted on trial at this conference, 
Brother T. F. Drake is now stationed at Rensselaer ; 
J. B. Combs, at Burlington; J. N. Harman,at Moroc- 
co ; James H. Hollingworth, at the First church, 
South Bend. These brethern are all at work, still 
in the conference where they commenced their 
labors. 

T. Wakiyama and K. Kosaka, after taking a reg- 
ular course in DePauw university, returned to their 
native Japan, to work in the Master's vineyard. 

Brother Drake is a vigorous, robust and dignified 
personality, with a warm brotherly heart. For sev- 
eral years before being admitted into the confer- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 359 

ence he was engaged in teaching ; he is a man of 
very respectable attainments, and keeps fully abreast 
of the times. He has also been successful in his 
work ; he is esteemed among the people as a noble 
specimen of dignified Christian manhood ; he is a 
sound, able preacher and faithful pastor ; was spoken 
of last fall as a suitable man for presiding elder; 
and in talents, industry, and capability, in all re- 
spects, would, it is believed, be competent for any 
station or district in the conference. 

Brother Harman is a devoted and cultured Chris- 
tian gentleman. He never fails to make the im- 
pression among the people that he is a man of God. 
What he lacks in pulpit power he more than makes 
up in looking after all the details of the work ; no 
interest in his charge is permitted to suffer for the 
want of attention. He has one of the best of wives, 
who is a granddaughter of Brother and Sister Le- 
brick, who were many years ago pillars in the 
church at the village of Dublin, Wayne county, In- 
diana, — at whose home the weary intinerant ever 
found a warm welcome. 

In 1847 this writer was called upon to officiate at 
the marriage of Mary, the eldest daughter of Brother 
and Sister Lebrick, to Prof. Erlaugher ; and, about 
thirty years after that event, he was called upon to 
perform a similar service at the marriage of their 
youngest daughter, to Rev. J. N. Harman. Brother 
Harman is now the useful pastor of Morocco circuit, 
and is having, as he usually does, good revivals in 
his charge. 

Brother Hollingsworth very soon after his admis- 
sion into the conference took rank among his 



360 INDIANA METHODISM, 

brethren as a clear, and sparkling preacher ; was 
well received and very useful, not only on the cir- 
cuits he traveled, but in Frankfort station, and As- 
bury, Terre Haute. He is now in his third year at 
South Bend. His conference sermon preached at 
Valparaiso, in 1885, was regarded by many as one 
of the most lucid, clear-cut, and pointed, ever preach- 
ed before the conference on a similar occasion. He 
is a genial, warm-hearted, and companionable broth- 
er, highly esteemed among his people. A few years 
ago, in his experience, he was brought into deeper 
knowledge of spiritual things, sometimes called the 
higher life ; since then much of that element in his 
preaching which was sometimes called wit and flip- 
pancy, has been eliminated from his sermons, and 
he is now, not only in the enjoyment of perfect love 
in his own experience, but is preaching the gospel 
of salvation with an unction and success not known 
in his earlier ministry. He preaches better, although, 
as above observed, he never failed to interest his con- 
gregations. 

The death of Rev. John S. Donaldson was report- 
ed at this conference. Brother Donaldson was well 
known among the older preachers of the conference, 
having been admitted on trial in 1839. He was a 
very industrious and faithful man, and successful as 
well, in his work as a Methodist preacher. His 
early religious education and training was accord- 
ing to the Westminster confession of faith. When 
converted to God, while comparatively young, he 
became clearly convinced that the atonement of the 
Lord Jesus was made for all men, and it is not re- 
markable that in after years he sometimes in the 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 36 1 

pulpit, as some of his friends thought went to the 
extreme in pounding Calvinism. Revivals attended 
his labors wherever he preached, and thousands of 
members were received into the church by him dur- 
ing the active years of his ministry. In 1863 he re- 
ceived the appointment as chaplain in the army, 
where he remained two years. While in the army 
his health was much impaired, and at the next con- 
ference he received a superannuated relation ; soon 
after this he removed to Merrick county, Nebraska, 
where he took a claim and succeeded in m iking a 
home for himself and family, supplying at various 
times, the adjoining circuits under the direction of 
the presiding elder. He was born in Mercer coun- 
ty, Penn., August 31, 1808, and died in great peace 
at his home in Nebraska, May 11, 1878. 

The Annual conference was held at South Bend 
in 18/9, September 3-8, Bishop Foster, in the chair, 
J. C. Reed, Secretary. No one of the five admitted, 
remains in the conference to-day. 

Four deaths were reported, viz., W. H. Smith, 
Aaron Conner, Richard Hargrave, and Philip I. Bes- 
wick. 

Brother Smith was one of the early pioneer preach- 
ers of Indiana. He was born in the State of Georgia, 
April 12, 1796, and closed his long and useful life 
at Greencastle, Indiana, September 28, 1878. 

Brother Aaron Conner, after a number of years of 
useful service in Indiana, superannuated and re- 
moved to California. He was a good man, and 
many were turned to righteousness through his in- 
strumentality. He was born in Pennsylvania, May 
22, 1822, and died in great Deace at the residence of 



362 INDIANA METHODISM, 

his son-in-law, Rev. E. R. Dille, in Santa Clara, 
Cal., September 28, 1878. 

Richard Hargrave, one of the greatest preachers 
in Methodism, is elsewhere characterized in this 
volume, and nothing now needs to be added, ex- 
cepting to say that he was born in Caswell county, 
N. C, Dec. 5, 1803, and died in holy triumph near 
Attica, Fountain county, Indiana, June 23, 1879. 

The delegates elected in 1879 to the General con- 
ference held in Cincinnati in 1880 were : Clerical, 
J. W. Greene, I. W. Joice, J. H. Cissel ; Reserves, 
R. D. Utter, W. Graham ; Lay, Clem Studebaker, 
L. B. Sims. 

The death of three bishops was reported at the 
Genera] conference of 1880, viz., Bishop Janes, Ames, 
and Haven. The lives of these three great men 
constitute a rich heritage to the church. 

Edmund S. Janes was born in Berkshire, Mass., 
April 27, 1807, and entered into rest from his home 
in New York City, September 18, 1876. His last 
words were, "I am not disappointed." 

Edward R. Ames, the great church-statesman 
and model presiding officer was born in Adams 
county, Ohio, May 20, 1806, and died in the City of 
Baltimore, Md., April 25, 1879. And on that day 
it might truthfully been said, "A prince and a great 
man hath fallen in Israel." 

Gilbert Haven was born in Maiden, Mass., Sept. 
19, 1821, and died at the same place, Jan. 3, 1880. 
He graduated at Wesleyan university, Middletown, 
Conn., in 1846. He was elected editor of Zion's 
Herald, in 1867, and elected bishop in 1872. 

In 1880 four bishops were elected, viz., Henry W. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 363 

Warren, Cyrus D. Foss, John F. Hurst, Erastus O. 
Haven. 

Beginning Sept. 1, 1880, the Northwest Indiana 
conference was held by Bishop Bowman in the city 
of Frankfort. Eight persons were admitted on trial, 
of whom W. P. Hargrave, A. M., G. W. Switzer, A. 
M., and L. S. Smith, A. M., are still workers in the 
conference. 

Brother Hargrave, the eldest son of the celebrated 
Richard Hargrave, is a Christian gentleman, highly 
respected, a good, safe preacher, a man of character , 
and every way trustworthy in his work. 

G. W. Switzer is now the successful and popular 
pastor of Crawfordsville station, having his usual 
success as a preacher and pastor. 

L. S. Smith is a good preacher, warm-hearted 
and brotherly.and much esteemed by his people as a 
faithful servant of the Lord. 

Five brethren was reported as having passed to 
their reward in heaven. Brother William Blake 
was born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, Nov. 
9, 18 19, and died in peace at his home in Greencas- 
tle, May 3, 1880. He was a good man, and a use- 
ful preacher. 

W. M. Fraly was born near Springfield, Ohio, 
June 8, 1816 ; admitted into the conference in 1838 ; 
a laborious and faithful man of God. He sank to 
his final sleep July 5, 1880, in his own home, and 
surrounded by his family. 

John Leach was born near Winchester, Virginia, 
May 14, 1813, and died at New Carlisle, Indiana, 
Oct. 10, 1879. I 11 tne early years of his ministry, be- 
fore his health declined, as a revivalist and a church- 



364 INDIANA METHODISM, 

builder, and as a success in every part of the work, 
Brother Leach had few equals in the conference. 

Jesse Woodward was born in Lee county, Vir- 
ginia, May 16, 1812. He was admitted to the con- 
ference in 1856; a devoted Christian, a fair preacher, 
a faithful friend and pastor. He was suddenly 
taken off in crossing a railroad track in his buggy ; 
was run over by a train, and sent home to his reward 
July 23, 1880. 

Ferris Pierce was born of pious parents in Duchess 
county, N. Y., June 1, 1809. He was converted and 
united with the church in 1829 In 185 [ he was mar- 
ried to Miss Effa Force ; was admitted to the con- 
ference in 1852, and died at his home in Stockwell, 
Indiana, April 10, 1880. He was a good preacher 
and singularly powerful in prayer. 

The conference of 188 1 was held by Bishop An- 
drews at Danville, Indiana, August 31-September 5. 
At this conference of the three admitted on trial, 
only one, W. B. Slutz, the genial gentleman, ac- 
ceptable pastor, now on his third year in Frankfort 
station, remains in the conference. He has been a 
success from the beginning, useful and popular 
wherever he has labored, and possibly never more 
so than now. Long may he live to do good, and 
bless the church. 

In 1882 Bishop Jesse T. Peck presided at the con- 
ference at Michigan City, beginning August 23. 
Seven were admitted on trial ; those who yet remain 
in the conference are W. H. Broomfield, a nice gen- 
tleman, fair preacher, now doing successful work on 
the Colfax charge. 

Brother J. W. Shell, formerly a teacher, now a 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 365 

preacher, zealous and faithful in the work. The 
church is still prospering under his labors in the 
Master's vineyard. 

Brother D. A, Rodgers, and alumnus of DePauw 
university; is now doing faithful work on Rossville 
circuit. 

R. S. Martin has had a successful and somewhat 
remarkable career thus far; after serving on various 
fields of labor, in the fall of 1888 he was appointed 
to Valparaiso station, where his reputation as a 
preacher and pastor continued to grow : at the con- 
ference of 1891, at the earnest request of the official 
board of that church, he was transferred by Bishop 
Ninde, and is now the popular pastor of Grace 
church in the city of Chicago. 

The death of the venerable Thomas Bartlett was 
reported at this conference. Brother Bartlett was a 
native of England, born in Kent county, May 10, 
18 1 1 ; came to America in 1828 ; united with the M. 
E. church in Philadelphia, in 1830. He was the 
first person received into the church by Edmund S.,. 
afterwards Bishop Janes. He was licensed to preach 
in Indiana in 1833, and received into the conference 
in 1834. He was a devoted Christian, a respectable 
preacher, a successful pastor, and will, doubtless 
have many seals to his ministry in the bright world 
above. He was a devoted husband, a kind father, 
much loved by his brethren in the ministry and the 
people generally. He died in holy triumph on the 
19 of January, 1882. 

Bishop Harris was welcomed by the conference at 
Terre Haute in 1883, the session commencing 
August 29. Four persons were admitted on trial, 



366 INDIANA METHODISM, 

neither of whom is now with the conference. 

J. A. Maxwell and I. N. Beard were transferred 
from the Southeast Indiana conference. 

Brother Maxwell is a fine preacher, a genial 
gentleman, successful in his work, highly es- 
teemed, now in his third year at Delphi station. 

Brother Beard, as before stated in these pages, is 
now president of Napa college, California. 

The delegates elected to the General conference 
which met at Philadelphia in 1884, were : Clerical, 
— Samuel Beck, Francis M. Pavey, L. C. Buckles ; 
Reserves, — S. P. Colvin, H. A. Gobin ; Lay, — E. G. 
Holgate, Clem Studebaker ; Reserves, — John Dough- 
erty, A. R. Colburn. 

The death of three bishops was reported at the 
General conference of 1884. 

Levi Scott, senior bishop, full of years and rich in 
faith and love, fell asleep in Jesus in the eightieth 
year of his age, and it was believed he died without 
an enemy on earth. 

On the 17 of May, 1883, Jesse T. Peck died at his 
home in Syracuse, N. Y. He was a man of great 
simplicity of character and strength of mind. His 
useful life went out in the seventy-third year of his 
age. 

E. O. Haven was born in Boston, Mass. .November 
1, 1820 ; elected to the Episcopacy at Cincinnati, 
in 1880, and as one of the bishops, took up his resi- 
dence in San Francisco, Cal., and died in Salem, 
Oregon, August 2, 18S1. 

The bishops elected in 1884 were, William X. 
Ninde, John M. Walden, Willard F. Mallalieu, 
Charles H. Fowler. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 367 

The Northwest Indiana conference was held at 
Attica by Bishop Foster, from August 27 to Sep- 
tember 1, 1884. 

Brother W. B. Warren, J. S. Wright, N. F. Jen- 
kins, (of the seven admitted on trial,) are still faith- 
ful laborers in the conference. These comparative- 
ly young brethren are successful m their work, and 
have been from the beginning, and are now actively 
laboring as follows : Brother Warren, on Romney 
charge ; Brother Wright, at North Liberty, Brother 
Jenkins, at Goodland. 

. Bishop Foss made his first visit as the presiding 
officer of the Northwest Indiana conference, at Val- 
paraiso, September 3, 1885. Brother D. Tillotson 
and N. E. Tinkham are the only two remaining in 
the conference, in active work, of the four who were 
admitted on trial. 

Brother Tillotson is an excellent young man ; 
took the Theological course at Garrett Biblical In- 
stitute ; was appointed at the last conference Tract 
Agent ; and is making himself felt as a successful 
evangelist. 

Brother Tinkham, a good man and a good preach- 
er, is now doing effective service on the Plainfield 
charge. 

At this conference was reported the death of Rev. 
James Johnson. Brother Johnson was born in Clark 
county, Indiana, January 21, 1812, and died Novem- 
ber 11, 1884. He was admitted on trial at the or- 
ganization of the North Indiana conference, at Ft. 
Wayne, in 1884 ; traveled forty consecutive years ; 
a man of deep piety, good preaching ability, an ex- 
cellent pastor ; served a number of years as a sue- 



368 INDIANA METHODISM, 

cessful and popular presiding elder. "He- was a good 
man and full of the holy Ghost," and through his in- 
strumentality many were added to the Lord. He 
was a member of the General conference of i860; 
and, in every place, there or elsewhere, of respon- 
sibility, he showed himself a man, an able minister 
of the New Testament. He was greatly loved by 
his brethren in the ministry, and by the people in 
the churches where his faithful labors were bestowed. 
Loved in his life he was lamented in his death. 

In 1886, beginning September 2, the conference 
was held at Frankfort, Bishop Merrill presiding. 
Nine were admitted on trial, and of these excellent 
young men, F. W. Gee and S. P. Edmondson are 
still with the conference, receiving their appoint- 
ments in 1891. — Brother Edmondson, to Danville; 
and F. W. Gee, to Coatsville charge. 

At this conference the writer was appointed to 
Valparaiso district, then in the seventy-fifth year of 
his age ; closing five years service on the district at 
the conference at South Bend in 1891. 

In 1887 Bishop Bowman held the conference at 
Greencastle, September 7-12. Of the fourteen ad- 
mitted on trial at this conference the followingbreth- 
ren remain with the conference, and are in the active 
work as vigorous, true, and promising young men; 
viz., William E. McLennan, H. L. Kindig, E. P. 
Bennet, J. G. Campbell, and W. F. Switzer. 

Four deaths were reported at this conference, H.M. 
Joy, George Guild, VV. J. Forbes, and Aaron Wood. 

Dr. Joy was transferred to the conference and 
stationed at Greencastle, and, soon after, was, by ac- 
cident, suddenly killed. 




MATTHEW SIMPSON. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 371 

Brother Guild did long and faithful service as a 
traveling preacher. His active labor has been more 
fully characterized in the preceding pages as also 
that of Brothers Forbes and Wood. 

The delegates elected to the General conference 
which met in the city of New York in May, 1888, 
were as follows : Ministerial, — S. P. Colvin, R. D. 
Utter, W. H. Hickman ; Reserves,— S. Beck, J. W. 
Greene ; Lay, — A. R. Colburn, J. C. Ridpath ; Re- 
serves, — I. H. C. Royse, E. G. Hogate. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

CRAWFORDSVILLE 1890— SOUTH BEND 1 89 1. 

Tuesday morning, May 1, 1888, the TWENTIETH 
DELEGATED GENERAL CONFERENCE of the METHOD- 
IST EPISCOPAL CHURCH convened in the Metropolitan 
opera house, in the City of New York. The bishops 
present were : T. Bowman, R. S. Foster, S. M.Mer- 
rill, E. G. Andrews, H. W. Warren, C. D. Foss, J. F. 
Hurst, J. M. Walden, W. F. Mallalieu, C. H. Fow- 
ler. 

During the quadrennium three of the bishops had 
been called from labor to reward, viz., Simpson, 
Wiley, and Harris. 

Bishop Simpson was born at Cadiz, Ohio, June 21, 
181 1. He was elected a tutor in Madison college in 
the eighteenth year of his age. Studied and prac- 



372 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ticed medicine for a short time ; was received on 
trial in the Pittsburg conference in 1834 ; elected 
vice president and professor of natural science in 
Alleghany college in 1837; and, in 1839, he was elect- 
ed president of Indiana Asbury university. All this 
remarkable history took place before he was thirty 
years of age. In 1848 he was elected editor of the 
Western Christian Advocate ; and, in 1852, at the 
session of the General conference in Boston, he was 
elected bishop. He closed his honorable life at his 
home in the city of Philadelphia, Pa.. June 18, 1884. 

Bishop Wiley was born at Lewistown, Pa., March 
29, 1825 ; studied medicine in his young manhood ; 
was sent as a missionary physician to China ; be- 
came a member of the Genesee conference ; in 1864 
was elected editor of the Ladies' Repository, and 
re-elected in 1868 ; and, in 1872, was elected bishop. 
He died at Foochow, China, November 22, 1884. 

William Logan Harris was born near Galion, 
Ohio, November 4, 1817, and died in New York 
City, September 2, 1887. He was on several occa- 
sions secretary of the General conference. He was 
elected bishop in 1872. 

The bishops elected in 1888 were : John H. Vin- 
cent, James N. Fitzgerald, Isaac W. Joyce, John P. 
Newman, Daniel A. Goodsell. 

The all absorbing question of discussion at the 
General conference of 1 888, was the eligibility of wom- 
en as members of that body. At the opening of the 
session the senior bishop, in behalf of the board of 
bishops, read a remarkable paper, informing the 
conference — 

1. That the roll of delegates-elect had been 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 373 

duly made up by the secretary of the last General 
conference, according to a practice fully authorized, 
from certificates forwarded to him by the secretaries 
of the Annual conferences. (The former rule was 
for each delegate to carry his own credentials to the 
General conference, and, when call was made, pre- 
sent them in person.) 

2. That certain delegates-elect to the present 
conference, whose election had been duly certified 
to the secretary of the last General conference, were 
of a class of persons never before admitted to mem- 
bership in the General conference, whose right to 
be admitted had never been determined, nor even 
considered, by the supreme authority of the church. 

3. That protests against the admission of such 
delegates-elect, protests responsibly signed, chal- 
lenging the right of such parties to seats in the Gen- 
eral conference, had been lodged in the hands of 
the bishops, to be presented for consideration at the 
proper time. 

4. That the bishops had no jurisdiction in the 
matter of the eligibility of the class of persons in 
question. 

5. That the General conference, which must pro- 
nounce upon the issue, cannot exercise its jurisdic- 
tion until duly organized. 

6. Therefore, in the nature of the case, there 
must be a general conference, with a quorum of un- 
challenged members, before the claims of the parties 
thus challenged can be presented. 

7. "The secretary of the last General conference 
will now call the roll prepared in conformity to the 
principles enunciated, and as soon as the conference 



374 INDIANA METHODISM, 

shall have elected a secretary to make a record of its 
proceedings we will present the names requiring 
your deliberation." 

This action of the bishops, to say the very least 
of it, was altogether unnecessary. Had they per- 
mitted the calling of the roll as made up by the act- 
ing secretary it would have interfered with nobody's 
right to challenge the seating of the women dele- 
gates. The course taken by the episcopal board in 
this matter evidently had the approval of a part 
(not all) of the delegates opposed to the admission 
of the women, while at least many of those who be- 
lieved the women lawfully entitled to seats looked 
upon it as almost revolutionary. 

The question of admitting the women delegates- 
elect was debated at length. The conference finally 
decided against the seating of the women, basing 
its decision on constitutional grounds ; but took 
such action as was necessary to submit to the An- 
nual conferences a proposition to so change the con- 
stitution of the church that women might become 
eligible to membership in the General conference. 

This proposition has failed (April, 1892) of the 
requisite majority in the Annual conferences ; so 
the General conference of (May) 1892, will have no 
authority to admit delegates of the women of the 
Church. What further action may be taken on the 
subject remains to be seen. 

The session of the Northwest Indiana conference 
at Rochester, Indiana, began September 5, 18S8, 
with Bishop Andrews in the chair, H. M. Middleton 
as secretary. Ten persons were admitted on trial 
at this conference, of whom, those now in the active 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 3 75 

work, are, C. M. Stockbarger, C. L. Harper, W. N. 
Dunn, R. M. Simmons, and J. H. Warrall. These 
are excellent young men and promise, in view of 
their good health, piety, and perseverance, much in 
the future in the work of the Lord. 

The deaths reported in 1888 were : J. C. Reed, H. 
B. Ball, R. H. Calvert. 

Joseph C. Reed. D. D., was born in Butler county, 
Ohio, March 7, 1826, and died October 27, 1887. He 
was admitted on trial at the conference held at 
Cambridge City in 1850. For a number of years 
Brother Reed occupied important stations in the 
conference, and also did excellent service as presid- 
ing elder on the Terre Haute and Greencastle dis- 
tricts. He served for a considerable time during 
the war, as chaplain of the Twenty-ninth Indiana 
Regiment. At the conference held in Frankfort, in 
1886, he took a superannuated relation. He was 
for twenty- four years secretary of the conference, of 
whom Bishop Janes once said : "Dr. Reed is the 
best secretary I ever met." He was an effective 
and popular pulpit orator, a devoted Christian, and 
in every way a lovable man. 

R. H. Calvert was born in Canada, April 12,1816; 
while not a brilliant preacher he was a very active 
and faithful man in his work. He died in holy tri- 
umph in Miami county, Indiana, March 20, 1888. 

Herman B. Ball was born in Ontario county, New 
York, May 6, 18 18. He joined the conference in 
1848, and, after years of effective service, was placed 
on the superannuate list in 1880, which relation he 
sustained up to the time of his death in 1888. 

Bishop Hurst presided at the session of the North- 



3/6 INDIANA METHODISM, 

west Indiana conference at Brazil, beginning Sep- 
tember 4, 1889. The following persons were ad- 
mitted on trial : Eugene C. Alford, Benton H. Beall, 
John H.Carson, George F. Cramer.Edward M. Dunk- 
elbarger, Samuel W. Goss, William M. Hurt, Sam- 
uel H. Murlin, John C. Reeve, Clarence D. Royse, 
Joseph B. Sites, Alanson M. Virden, Telesphore Le- 
veque, John H. Strain. 

The deaths reported at this conference were : Lu- 
cas Nebeker and E. B. Woodson. 

Brother Nebeker was born in Pickaway county, 
Ohio, February 25, 1819, and died at his home in 
in Battle Ground, Indiana, November 22, 1888. 
When but a child, his father emigrated to Fountain 
county, Indiana, and, in 1824, settled on the Wa- 
bash river. He was converted at a camp meeting 
near Rob Roy, August 20, 1838. He was admitted 
in the North Indiana conference, at South Bend, in 
the fall of 185 l. He traveled circuits for nine years; 
was stationed at Rockville, and afterwards at Terre 
Haute, Crawfordsville, Thorntown, Stockwell ; and 
was appointed to LaPorte district as presiding elder 
in 1872. He was a fair English scholar, an indus- 
trious and useful traveling preacher. Sometimes 
in the pulpit he measured up to a beautiful and im- 
pressive eloquence. He was a true man, loved his 
friends, was devoted to his church, and died in full 
possession of a blissful hope of immortality, in the 
evening of February 23, 1889. 

Rev. E. B. Woodson, A. M., was an alumnus of 
Northwestern university, at Evanston, Illinois. He 
was not only a good scholar and an interesting 
preacher, but he excelled as a pastor. His last work 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 377 

in the conference was Remington station. From 
the beginning of his work at Remington, as elsewhere 
in his former history, he was received with delight 
and joy by the people ; and there, as elsewhere, he 
did not fail to build up the work of the church and 
win souls from darkness to light. He was born in 
Michigan City, Indiana, March 30, 1850. He preach- 
ed his last sermon Thursday evening, February 14, 
from the text, "To-day, if you will hear his voice, 
harden not your heart." He died on Friday, Feb- 
ruary 22, 1889. 

In 1890, beginning October 1, the conference was 
held in Crawfordsville, Bishop Fowler in the Chair, 
H. N. Ogden, secretary. Thirteen were admitted 
on trial, and the following were received into full 
connection: C. M. Stockbarger, C. L. Harper, W.N. 
Dunn, R. M. Simmons, J. H. Warrall, J. L. Green- 
way, N. E. Tinkham, Joseph Dawson. 

The Fortieth session of the Northwest Indiana 
conference was held at South Bend, Sept. 30— Oct.6, 
1891. Bishop Nir.de presided — his first presidency 
over the conference. 

The conference received by transfer : A. P. De- 
Long and A.H.DeLongfrom the Detroit conference; 
W. E. McLellan, from the Mexico conference ; W. 
G. Vessels, from the West Nebraska conference;and 
R. G. HammoncL from the Southwest Kansas con- 
ference. 

Admitted on trial : W. M. Hurt, J. P. Henson, H. 
C.Weston, J. S. Hoagland, H. G.Ogden.R.H.Biddle, 
A. L. Allais, W. F. Dingle, G.M. Myers, A.L.Clark, 
A. C. Geyer, Lynn Bates, Amos Fetzer, and J. H. 
Wiley. 



3/8 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Received into full connection : B. H. Beall, E. M. 
Dunklebarger, S. W. Goss, L. H. Murlin J.C. Reeve, 
C. D. Royse, J. B. Sites.A. M. Virden, A. T. Briggs. 

The following were elected delegates to the Gen- 
eral conference of 1892: Ministerial, — J. L. Smith, J. 
H. Cissel, H. A. Gobin ; Lay,— William M. Ken- 
dall, Oliver Guard. Reserve delegates: Ministerial, 
— S. B. Town, W. H.Hickman; Lay— I. H.C.Royce, 
Alpheus Birch. 

On the third day of the session, Oct. 2, J.L.Smith, 
presiding elder of Valparaiso district, made his re- 
port, and his character was passed. This, he stated, 
was his 29th or 30th report as presiding elder. He 
said he felt his inability, on account of advancing 
age, longer to do the work of a presiding elder on 
the Valparaiso district, and should therefore request 
the bishop to give him work on some small charge. 
At the close of his report the brethern of the confer- 
ence and others present came forward, and gave him 
a cordial Christian greeting. "S. P. Colvin moved 
that a committee be appointed to draft suitable res- 
olutions. S. P. Colvin, J. H. Hull, Wm. Graham, S. 
T. Cooper, and J. W. T. McMullen were appointed." 

Oct. 5th the committee submitted the following 
report, which was unanimously adopted : 

Whereas, Our Brother, the Rev. J. L. Smith, D. 
D., after a ministry of more than fifty years, thirty 
of which have been spent on district work, and now, 
in his eighty-first year, after presenting one of the 
most excellent reports ever made by a presiding el- 
der, in a most affecting manner, and in a style pecu- 
liar to himself, has voluntarily resigned his charge 
as presiding elder, asking the conference to give him 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 379 

some smaller work near his home at Valparaiso, and 

Whereas, This conference, recognizing his great 
work for God and the church, has chosen him to lead 
its delegation to the General conference, making the 
sixth time the church has bestowed upon him this 
honor : therefore, be it 

Resolved, That this conference, by his election as 
delegate, has not only honored itself, but expressed, 
in a small measure, its high regard and affectionate 
esteem for a man whose life-work is historical in the 
Methodism of Indiana and the nation, a man who 
has been a leader among men, a faithful preacher of 
the Word, an organizer of institutions of learning, 
and a champion of every form of our Christian civi- 
lization. 

Resolved, That in his voluntary retirement from the 
district work, he carries with him the high respect, 
love, and esteem of his brethren in the ministry. 

Resolved, That we earnestly request that he pre- 
pare, as soon as possible, a history of Indiana Meth- 
odism, as we recognize that he is possessed of such 
data, and intimate personal knowledge of our belov- 
ed Methodism, as will enable him to prepare a his- 
tory that will be of inestimable value to the church 
of Indiana and Methodism at large. 

The minutes of the sixth day contain the follow- 
ing item : "The bishop, on behalf of the brethren, 
presented J. L. Smith a token of respect, in the form 
of a roll of money, containing one dollar for every 
year of his ministry, and Dr. Smith responded with 
appropriate remarks." 

The same day J. L. Smith made the following 
statement : 



3 8o 



INDIANA METHODISM, 



"Bishop Nindc and Brethren of the Conference : 
I was admitted on trial in the Indiana confer- 
ence, Oct. 25, 1840, Bishop Joshua Soule presiding. 
Hence, I close, at this conference, fifty-one years as 
a traveling preacher. 

Being now, as I believe, of 'sound mind and mem- 
ory,' and with no unkind feeling in my heart toward 
any member of this conference or any other person, 
but with abiding love and gratitude to God and my 
brethren, I respectfully ask to be placed on the su- 
perannuated list. — J. L. Smith." 

On motion, the request was granted. 

NORTHWEST INDIANA CONFERENCE. 

The following table indicates the growth of the 
conference from its organization in 1852, by decades, 
the fourth decade, of course, lacking one year of be- 
ing complete. 



1852 


1862 


1872 


1882 


79 
i3°59 


I2 5 

16854 


148 
22019 


r 59 
24666 


$2463 
229 


$4619 

IIOO 


$5185 
1699 


$6528 
1340 


223 

1948 

11136 


248 
2166 
13175 


314 

3304 

22929 


289 

3079 
23649 


204 
39 


225 
5 2 


262 

67 


295 

83 


$229140 
27258 


$242450 
3 2 3 6 ° 


$771585 
96450 


$720450 
"3631 



1 89 1 



Conference Members . . 
Churei, Members 

Collections for — 

Missions 

Conf. Claimants. . . . 

Sunday Schools 

Officers and Teachers.. 
Scholars 

Number of Churches. . 
Number of Parsonages 

Probable Value of — 

Churches 

Parsonages 



180 

53458 



$14269 
4265 

337 

4147 

32433 



330 
94 



S934020 
124025 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 38 1 

The Census bureau has issued a bulletin giving 
statistics of the M. E. church in the United States,, 
which shows 102 annual conferences, not including 
ten or more in foreign countries. Connected with 
these conferences are 2,240,354 communicants. This 
includes both members and probationers. Of the 
2,790 counties in the states and territories the church 
is represented in all save 585. It has 25,861 organi- 
zations, with 22,844 church edifices, with a seating 
capacity of 6,302,708, and an aggregate valuation 
of $96,723,408. This valuation, does not include 
parsonages and other church property. 

CLOSE OF THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE. 

The appointments for 189-1, as read by Bishop 
Ninde disclosed the fact that several important 
changes had been made, both in the plan of the 
work, and the stationing of the preachers. 

The number of the districts was reduced from 
six to five ; of the six former presiding elders, — -the 
legal term of three had expired — of one, his district 
was absorbed in the five, and the other, namely the 
writer, was granted a superannuated relation, — leav- 
ing only one of the six — "H. M. Middleton, of the 
Crawfordsville district." 

The writer's successor on the Valparaiso district, 
the Rev. J. H. Wilson, found the twenty-six pasto- 
ral charges, composing his field of labor — well man- 
ned, all willing and ready to cooperate in all suitable 
plans, and well devised methods of work under the 
valiant leadership of their new suffragan Bishop. 
In its rapidly rising towns and growing young cities 
along its western border, in speaking distance of 



382 INDIANA METHODISM, 

a great city like Chicago, Valparaiso district needs 
the "right man in the right place." With Satan at 
the head of the whiskey power in city, village and 
country place, commanding his cohorts in crime ; 
reigning in the saloon, directing in the gambling- 
hell, his eye on the low dive, and his chief seat in 
Sin's gilded palace — may the general on the dis- 
trict, in command of King Emmanual's forces, ever 
be as now; a man, of able body, strong will, burning 
zeal, undaunted courage, and deep devotion ; in the 
use of "the weapons which are not carnal, but which 
are mighty through God, to the pulling down the 
strong holds" of sin, and to the building up of the 
Kingdom of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

GENERAL CONFERENCE. 

The twenty-first Delegated General Conference 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, convened in the 
Exposition Hall, in the city of Omaha, Nebraska, on 
Monday, the second day of May, eighteen hundred 
and ninety-two. 

One of the leading questions brought before the 
body, was the report of the committee appointed at 
"New York - ' in 1888, to consider and report on what 
parts of the "discipline" should be taken and accept- 
ed as the constitution or, organic law of the church, 
and what among the "rules and regulations," should 
be held as statutory. After much discussion the 
whole matter was postponed for four years, or until 
the General conference of 1S96. 

The second question, to which was given much 
time and thought, was, that "child of providence" — 
the "Epworth league" — the promising child — young- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 383 

est of the family. 

The third, and most exciting question of all, was 
what is known as the "Hamilton Amendment," sub- 
mitting the "woman question" — or more properly 
speaking the man question to the annual confer- 
ences ; without the 'weight of a "two thirds vote" of 
the "General conference," this amendment seeks by 
indirection and "pious frail d," to do, what the friends 
of the measure failed to accomplish by direction — 
they seek by adding certain words to the restrictive 
rule, to change the letter, which words when added, 
will leave the rule in spirit, and meaning precisely 
what it now is. 

In other words, if three- fourths of the members 
of the Annual conferences, present and voting, fail 
or refuse to vote "Aye," and the "General conference" 
should by a two-thirds vote, fail or refuse to vote, 
"Aye," then, and in that case "the Second Restrict- 
ive Rule shall be so construed that the words, 'lay 
delegates,' may include men and women," and so, 
the effect of a negative vote shall be, to affirmative- 
ly settle a great constitutional question. 

The General conference of 1888 decided that 
under the organic law, of the church, woman was 
not eligable as a delegate — the report of the "Judi- 
ciary committee" of 1892, reaffirmed that decision, 
and yet it is sought by a sort of Clerical Legerde- 
main, to bring about a state of things which if it 
should succeed can at most bring woman into the 
"General conference" by a side entrance — which 
would be a humiliation to woman — not to say a dis- 
grace to the whole church. 

On the fifth day of the session, on motion of "Dr. 



384 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Buckley," the writer was kindly invited to occupy a 
seat on the platform, at his pleasure — which honor 
he in a few words declined— saying, "I thank the 
General conference for the compliment but prefer- 
ing to sit with my delegation — I beg to decline the 
high position tendered." The great quadrennial 
gathering of more than five hundred delegates ; on 
the 27 day of May, 1892, closed what in some re- 
spects will go down into history as one of the most 
remarkable in the annals of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 



APPENDIX. 



THE REV. J. W. T. McMULLEN, D. D. 

"John William Thomas McMullen" was born in 
"Orange county," Va., January i, 1826. 

His parents "William and Ann McMullen" were 
among the first to unite with the Methodist Epis- 
copal church in that part of the state. 

His father was the first class leader and the build- 
er of the first church in that portion of the country. 

In the eleventh year of his age his parents moved 
to Indiana and found a cabin home in Wayne county. 

His father was a well. to do farmer and John was 
early taught habits of industry— .working on the- 
farm in summer and attending such schools in 
winter as the country afforded fifty years ago. 

In the 17th year of his age he was present on a Sab- 
bath at the dedication of the newly erected church in 
Centerville. Dr. Simpson the president of the In- 
diana Asbury university, and greatest pulpit orator 
in the state, was to preach the dedicatory sermon. 
Long before the hour for service, the new church 
was crowded. John, with the other boys from the 



386 INDIANA METHODISM, 

McMullen neighborhood had taken a seat in the gal- 
lery. The great preacher was at his best. He was 
led, on that occasion, to picture in glowing colors, 
the triumphs of the gospel in winning its way from 
Plymouth rock to the Pacific Ocean. Planting the 
cross on the summit of the Rocky Mountains with 
the "Stars and Stripes" just beneath — the symbols of 
free speech and a free gospel — the scene that fol- 
lowed this burst of impassioned eloquence, no 
tongue or pen may describe. Amens and halleluas 
rang throughout the congregation. 

While young McMullen in the gallery, not yet 
converted, but knowing how to shout at a political 
meeting sprang to his feet and swinging his hat, be- 
gan screaming at the top of his voice — huzza, huzza, 
huzza, — then on the return of consciousness, was 
mortified almost beyond endurance, to find himself 
in a church — amidst the worshipers. He was con- 
verted in the twenty-first year of his age, and the 
same year was licensed to preach. Lucian \V. 
Berry, D. D., presiding, who also presented his name 
to the Indiana conference, held in the city of Rising 
Sun in 1849. His first appointment was to Pales- 
tine Mission, and for the next five years he labored 
on old fashioned circuits. 

He was appointed to his first station — Asbury 
chapel, Indianapolis — in 1854, which he served for 
two years. 

In these first seven years of his itinerant minis- 
try, he has ever felt, that it was his good fortune, to 
be under the training and fatherly watch care as his 
presiding elder — of that grand old hero and man of 
God, the Rev. James Havens. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 387 

In 1856, he was transferred to the North Indiana 
conference, and stationed at Roberts chapel, In- 
dianapolis, where he remained a full term of two 
years. Under his arduous labors at the Capital 
City, and responding to the frequent calls for public 
addresses on popular occasions, his health gave way 
and being advised by physician and friends, at the 
conference of 1858 took a superannuated relation, 
but in 1859 was made effective, and appointed to 
Logansport station. 

At the conference in i860 again with broken 
health, was constrained to take a superannuated re- 
lation, and after a year's rest, was in the spring of 
i86r, appointed to Pearl street station, Richmond. 
Scarcely had the new pastor entered upon his work 
when the country was startled by Southern rebels fir- 
ing on Ft. Sumpter. At the call of President Lincoln 
the people rushed to arms. Many of our preachers vol- 
unteered to defend the flag, going out at once to the 
front, or entering the recruiting service. Among 
the very first, Dr. McMullen took the field, and in 
company with Rev. F. A. Hardin raised a regiment. 
When the former was commissioned by Gov. O. P. 
Morton, as colonel and the latter lieutenant colonel, 
marched to the field of conflict. 

The strain on the already impaired constitution 
of Dr. McMullen — sweeping through the country 
like a flaming torch, by day and night, electrifying 
the people with his burning eloquence in defense of 
the old flag, while recruiting the regiment, was too 
great for endurance and he was compelled to resign 
his colonelcy and resign himself for months to nerv- 
ous prostration. 



388 INDIANA METHODISM, 

At the session of the North Indiana conference, 
held at Ft. Wayne in April 1862 — he was transferred 
by Bishop Simpson to the Northwest Indiana con- 
ference — appointed to Fifth St., now Trinity church, 
LaFayette, where he served a full term of two years, 
and in 1864 was appointed to Attica district as pre- 
siding elder. In 1880, his father-in-law, Robert 
Heath, Esq., died leaving quite an estate, bringing 
with it increased care to the doctor and his family, 
insomuch that with weak health he has been since 
that time, but one year in actice ministerial work. 
In looking over his life record it is found that he 
traveled circuits six years — and did station work 
thirteen years — served as Centenary Agent one 
year, and as presiding elder nine years. 

If any man may be properly called self made, J. 
W. T. McMullen is that man. Without scholas- 
ticism, a man of broad and varied learning. An el- 
ocutionist by nature. A linguist without a master. 
An impressive and elegant reader by instinct. A 
knowledge of history perhaps equaled in the state 
only by Indiana's great historian — Dr. John Clark 
Ridpath. 

Dr. McMullen is a man of deep personal piety, 
with a brothers heart — generous next to a fault — a 
friendship true as the needle to the pole, — gallant 
and chivalrous— the soul of honor—clothed with a gen- 
uine knighthood — but with a spirit gentle and guile- 
less as a morning zephyr or sweet as the fragrance 
that scents the evening gale. It is sad to think how 
much the world has lost in not having in permanent 
forma true history of the life and labors of this truly 
good and great man. 




rev. j. w. t. Mcmullen, d. d. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 39E 

If in the high noon of his manhood his brilliant 
and eloquent gospel sermons moving multitudes to- 
turn away from a sinful life, to the ways of religion 
and truth — together, with his great war speeches,, 
all could have been taken down by a shorthand re- 
porter, and put in book form, what a benediction to' 
our young people of to-day would be such a volume 
— I know the man of whom I speak — I have known 
him long and intimately, I do not over rate him. 

It gives me pleasure to present to my readers the 
Doctor's portrait, but more still to furnish his"seven" 
letters upon the lofty theme of the "Apocalypse." 
These letters were not written for publication as the 
reader will readily see, but I here take the liberty,, 
presuming, that the generous nature of the distin- 
guished author will pardon what might seem temer- 
ity on the part of his old friend and fellow laborer.. 

J. L. SMITHi 



I. 

LaFayette, March, 15 1885, 

Dear Dr. Smith : 

Sabbath memories of Creation and re- 
demption stir me. The grand mood is upon me. 

I think of the long rest of Jehovah, from creative 
work.and of the Sabbatic rest of the Son of God from 
a life of suffering, and atoning sorrow. I think too,, 
of the rest of the Saints of all the ages in the glori- 
ous heavens. I see the true tabernacle which the 
Lord pitched and not man. I walk within the true- 



392 INDIANA METHODISM, 

temple, of which the "Jewish temple was but the 
shadow of a shade." I move through the heavenly- 
Jerusalem, "whose builder and maker is God," and 
of which the earthly was but the feeblest material 
symbolism. I gaze upon the eternal Father enthron- 
ed, and the majestic light-form, on whose brow hangs 
the seven-fold rainbow, bespeaks the presence of 
the Infinite. I look upon the Son of God at the 
right hand of the Father's majesty, in whom the 
Spirit, soul and body of humanity,has been glorified 
with all power and authority over angels, men, 
and devils. I behold him take the semblance of "a 
Lamb slain, having seven horns and seven eyes" — 
the Lamb slain, symbol of his atoning work, which 
won him the right to universal rule — the seven 
horns, emblems of his complete, perfect, and om- 
nipotent power to rule — and the seven eyes, sym- 
bols of his all-seeing vision, in all worlds. I look 
upon "the seven spirits before the throne," flashing 
light and fire from "seven lamps" of excellent glory 
— symbols these, of the one, complete, and perfect 
Spirit of God and his Christ, in his work of purifying 
souls, and in his work of judgment upon guilt. I 
stand on the crystal sea of glass, — emblem of the 
divine, the serene, and the pure, and the everlasting 
— and gaze upon "the fountains of living waters." I 
see the four Cherubims, and hear them chant the 
Anthems of the skies, and repeat the story of the 
suffering church, until it shall enter the new heaven 
and the new earth, in all the glories of resurrec- 
tion, life and power. I see the seven angels of 
power, and hear them proclaim the conquests and 
defeats of the historic and prophetic church, until 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 393 

all things shall be made new. I see Gabriel, the 
great prophet among the angels, and the mighty 
numberer of the days of God — opposing secular 
kingdoms, and he pours forth all his sympathies, 
with the bleeding church of the past and of the fu- 
ture, until the temporal becomes the eternal and 
the spiritual. 

I gaze upon Michael, the commander and leader 
of all angels, who, behind the scenes, has fought 
Satan and his angels, in all the wars of the ages ; 
and thus shall he fight for the church until it be- 
comes the resurrection church of eternity. I see 
the twice twelve elders, representatives of the true,, 
one historic church of all ages, and I hear them re- 
count the story of all holy sufferers, until time shall 
be no more, and their names shall blaze upon the 
gates and foundations of the eternal city of light,, 
amid the splendors of a new creation. I see the 
numberless hosts of angels, and the twelve tribes 
of Israel, and the countless multitudes of the gen- 
tile church, flaming in garments of light, and I hear 
their songs and shouts, as they see the coming glory 
of the church on earth, and in the eternal state. 

O life above ! what power, what health, what 
beauty, is there in the celestial life ! There none of 
us are forgotten. They think of us ; they remem- 
ber us. They are all ministers to us. How, they 
will tell us soon. 

In a few days you Dr., Sister Smith, my wife and 
I, even I — shall have a new revelation. We shall 
see, and hear, and know, and feel what it is to be 
with the whole universe of heavenly ones. There 
can be but one more revelation greater than this — 



394 INDIANA METHODISM, 

life in resurrection bodies, and in a new spiritual 
creation. 

You see Dr. that the spell is upon me, that came 
upon me while I was with you. We have song-ser- 
vice every night, and an evening invocation. The 
prophetic pictures of the church of the future, and 
the nations and states of the future, rise before, de- 
manding study. Oh to be willing, and able to work, 
and yet compelled to walk around here "wasting 
.sweetness on the desert air," "but I dream." 

Oh to hear my young people say, when they come 
from church, "Well I listen, but I learn nothing." 
I say nothing, for I know there is so much truth in 
it. Oh my God send men to our pulpits, who can 
get a grip on our people, and not let us waste away. 
My soul is moved when I see the weakness of our 
people. Thanks for your letter. It came down upon 
me like the dew and the rain upon the plants in the 
day of heat. It was refreshing, like the opening of 
4he eye-lids of the morning. It hangs on my cloud, 
like a rainbow of promise. Thanks again and re- 
peat the blessing. 

We had a lecture from Talmage on Ingersoll. It 
-was characteristic, I am told — strong, sharp, and 
funny, answering a fool according to his folly, and 
yet without being like the fool. 

Tell Sister Smith we do not forget her. Accept 
our kindest regards. 

Yours truly, 

J. W. T. Mc Mullen. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 395 



II. 

LaFayette, March iy, 1885. 
Dear Dr Smith :— 

My faith looks out upon a rich field of wonders, 
and my hope takes on golden wings for a majestic 
flight. Three or four centuries ago, and what ? 
Asia was ruled by pagan or Mohamedan ! no angel 
of missions spread his wings of light in its black- 
ness of darkness, nor had the once star crowned 
light-robed queen of prophetic vision, life enough 
to send one missionary into the awful gloom. Three 
or four ages ago and what of the night in Europe ? 
An absolute pope ruled Christendom, the Turks 
were thundering at the gates of Vienna, the error- 
demons and the war-demons of Mohammedism 
seemed about to establish another false religion ov- 
er all the West, and solid midnight reigned over 
the ignorance of Europe. And what of Africa ? 
Three or four centuries ago Africa was the dark 
land, as she had been for untold ages ; and not a 
single torch of Europeanism or of Americanism 
lighted up her horrid gloom. Three or four centuries 
ago, America was a world of howling woods, and of 
red savages, practicing horrid Satanic rites and dia- 
bolical cruelities. Then, the four quarters of the 
globe were covered with a rayless night, and only 
in Europe was seen a feeble twilight dawn. Then, 
the seas were navigated by feeble crafts, and ruled 
by pirates, Then there were no missionary socie- 
ties, sending forth the gospel heralds to all nations. 



396 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Then, there were no Bible societies, speaking in 
two or three hundred languages and dialects to the 
world. Then, there was no speech by press, by 
lightening, or by telephone, and no movement by fire 
and steam. Then, there was no Christian pre-em- 
inence, spreading Europeanism over Asia and Af- 
rica, with ever increasing rapidity. Then, there 
was no anti-pagan, anti- papal, Protestant pre- 
eminence, with all its churches, schools and univer- 
sities, spreading a true Christianity over the world. 
Then there was no Christian Protestant, and 
American pre-eminence, spreading Americanism 
over the world, with its ideas of a free church in a 
free state. Paganism, papalism, and Mohamed- 
ism, grow weaker every day ; but Christian Protes- 
tantism, with all its over-mastering peace-forces, and 
war forces, and arts, waxes stronger and stronger. 
I do not forget the great injustices, oppressions, im- 
purities, falsities, and corruptions ; but a century or 
two more of such splendid progress, and then what ? 

shall it be the Millennium ? "The Lord hast- 
en it in his time." I give these thoughts because 
you know what to do with them. I do not write so 
to any other minister of my conference. Why ? 
Because he would not understand me. Oh have I 
spoken vanity ? Well Dr. excuse a little wrath. 

1 ought to have a chance to tell them these things 
everywhere. 

Things, are still, in our churches. No dog wags 
his tongue so as to make the devil's swine squeal. 
The Lord forgive me if I speak uncharitably. We 
are well. Soon I shall get to business, and fight, and 
watch and pray. But O, how every power of my 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 397 

soul says, I ought to have a better chance. But not 
as I will but as the Lord will. 

We have you all in our hearts, the place of goodly 
treasures. You both are remembered in love. May 
God bless you and Sister Smith, more and more. 
Amen. 

Yours Truly, 

J. VV. T. MCMULLEN. 



III. 
LaFayette, Indiana, March, 2j, 1885. 

Dear Dr. Smith : — 

I send you some thoughts on the sacred 
numbers of the Apocalypse. Three, in the unity of 
the divine nature, is the number of Father, Son and 
Holy Spirit. Four in the number of the cherubim 
as representatives of the universal four in creation : 
matter, plant-life, brute-life, and spirit-life ; whether 
in angels or in human souls. 

Four Cherubims, with their sunny-eyed, six wing- 
ed forms, — the first having the face of a lion ; the 
second, the face of an ox ; the third, the face of a 
man ; the fourth, the face of an eagle, — is a revela- 
tion of the Divine, causing every atom of dead dust 
to act as if each were full of eyes, and to move as 
if each had six wings, and to behave as if every el- 
ement knew which way to go, and how to take their 
places in exact time, and hold to each other, and 
work together in all vegetal forms, in all animal 



398 INDIANA METHODISM, 

frames, and in all human and spiritual bodies. 

Seven is the sum of three and four — three, the 
sum of the Divine nature, and four, the sum of cre- 
ated nature, — matter, life in plants, life in animal 
forms, and in all spiritual bodies. Seven in the 
colors of the rainbow arch, over the throne of the 
Infinite Father, is a number of completeness and 
perfection in the divine, and in the created, as the 
best possible system, on the whole which could have 
been made. Hence, too, the seven colored rainbow 
is the symbol of the Father's complete and perfect 
love and mercy to his fallen children. Seven in the 
seven horns and the seven eyes of the Lamb, ex- 
press completeness and perfectness of the Divine 
in Jesus, as having all power to save his people, and 
rule his foes, and as having all power to see and 
know how to serve and how to punish. Seven also 
reveals the one perfect and complete Spirit : as the 
Spirit of God and of Christ sent forth into all the 
earth. Seven, in the seven spirits before the throne, 
and in the seven lamps, which flame over the chrys- 
tal sea on which the throne is set, reveal the com- 
pleteness and perfectness of the Divine in the Holy 
Spirit, as the purifier of believing souls, and the one 
who inspires all created spirits with a sense of God 
and evil, law and order. Seven, in the seven seals of 
the book in the right hand of the enthroned Father, 
and loosed by the Lamb, represents the completeness 
and perfcctnesspfthe "lion of the tribe of Juda, "who 
alone could reveal the sevenfold history of the 
Church and the world, until time shall end and 
eternity dawn. Seven, in the seven angels with 
seven trumpets, represents and proclaims the Di- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 399 

vine government of the Church, and of the great 
world powers, through all the sevenfold periods of 
their history, until the new heaven and earth shall 
come. 

Twelve, in the twelve angels, four of whom are 
cherubim, seven of whom are proclaiming angels — 
Gabriel, which means "God's strong one" — and 
Michael, "who is like God," and the great general 
of the angelic army — these twelve, represent the Di- 
vine government, by angel princes, over all angelic 
principalities, dominions and powers. Was the an- 
gelic twelvedom the model of the twelvedoms in the 
Jewish Church, and in the Apostolic Church ? These 
twelve angel-princes, are to stand at the twelve 
gates of the City of light, that shall cover 375 square 
miles of the new earth, and pour its twelve tinted 
splendors over the new world of the resurrection ; 
and they are to preside over the divine order, and 
the organized polity of the new capital and the new 
land, and present the resurrection — kings and na- 
tions faultless before the august presence of the King 
immortal, when they shall come to worship in the 
city of massive gems, and precious stones. Amen. 
Alleluia. 

I submit seven, twelve, ten and ten hundred, as 
sacred and revealing numbers, in the history of the 
Divine, in the government of the Church and of the 
world, in time and in eternity. Seven, is a complete 
and churchly number ; and seven stars are seven 
angel-ministers of the seven churches of Asia; and 
seven golden candlesticks are the seven Asiatic 
churches ; and seven epistles to the seven churches, 
are seven pictures, in which the churches of the ages 



40O INDIANA METHODISM, 

might see their spiritual likenesses, and "the spirit 
of anti-christ that should come," and has come, as 
"the eighth," and yet as one "of the seven'' great 
Satanic world-powers, that has ever been anti-God, 
and anti-Christ. Seven roll- seals opened, and seven 
roll-leaves — or sheets — disclosed, are seven pictures 
of the church and the world-forces of futurity. The 
first is a picture of Churchly conquests, — "Conquer- 
ing and to conquer" — though defeated for ages, yet 
the white horse conquorer and his armies win the 
fight, and the millennium comes. 

The second is the picture of the universal war- 
power of the centuries, ever and anon, "taking 
peace from the earth." The third is the black pict- 
ure of the world wide war, throughout all time, 
filling the earth with want, woe, and hard times. 
The fourth is the pale picture of war in "the fourth 
part of the earth," attended by famine, pestilence, 
and beastly savagery, and often repeated through 
the bloody ages. 

In these four pictures, four in the number of univer- 
sal ; but the fourth is limited to "the fourth part of 
the earth." 

The fifth seal picture, is still less a symbol, and a 
more definite picture of the martyrs of all ages. Its 
dark side is the martyrdoms of the centuries, and 
the cry of the martys at the grand altar of sacrifice 
in heaven ; and its bright side, is their enrobement, 
and their sweet rest, until the last martyr "shall be 
killed." The sixth seal-picture is the portrayal of the 
dissolution of the earth, and the doom of the wicked. 
The seventh seal-leaf, is a picture of church destiny, 
and of world-destiny--human and material — until 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 40I 

"all things are made new." The seven epistles were 
lesser pictures of things that were, and things that 
were to come. The seven roll-sheets were larger 
pictures of things to come, in churches, nations, and 
in the earth and heaven. The seven trumpets are 
still larger revealings, of things that were, and are, 
and are to come, until all shall end, and begin 
again in eternal perfection and glory. Of the seven 
trumpets, the first four are brief, — terrible procla- 
mations of judgment to come upon that great world- 
power, which banished John to the Isle of Patimos, 
and made martyrs of the saints through many per- 
secutions. Alaric and his Goths, Attila and his 
Huns, Genseric and his Vandals, Odvacer and his 
Heruli, brought ruin upon the Western Roman em- 
pire, and made prophecy history. 

Three of the seven, are woe-trumpets, sounding 
the march of error-demons, and of war-demons, and 
of the great Satanic anti-Christie empire, until the 
war ends in the eternal triumph of Christ. All these 
forces have been in history for ages, and we may 
easily know them. The error-demons of Romanism 
and Mohammedism, the war-demons of both these 
forces, and the anti-Christ of pagan Rome, of the 
Roman state church, and of papalism, have had ages 
of history. 

The seventh trumpet proclaims the struggle of 
Christ with anti-Christ, until the kingdom of this 
world, shall no longer be the kingdom of Satan, but 
the kingdom of God and his Christ. It fills the en- 
tire third part of the book with the symbols and 
pictures of the great struggle, and tells the true, 
clear, divine, and consecutive story of prophecy and 



402 INDIANA METHODISM, 

history, until Jesus shall reign over all the earth. 
Under the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the 
panorama of symbols moves on, and thrice the great 
seven and ten-fold image of Satanic world-empire 
rushes upon the field of vision ; and the seventh an- 
gel explained the seventh-foldness, and the ten- 
foldness, of the great secular anti-Christ, and the 
seven-foldness of the great city, which has so long 
reigned over the kings of the earth. As men have 
sat in this grand palace of divine art, Romanist and 
Protestant, have seen in them glowing picture-, the 
seven great historic world-powers — Egyptian, As- 
syrian, Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, pagan, Roman, 
so-called Christian Roman, and the papal Roman 
empire, which is the eighth, but of the seven, — and 
they have seen all these powers embodied in the 
Roman empire, and all have been always, and in all 
history, anti-God and anti-Christ. 

They have also seen in these pictures, the ten Teu- 
tonic kingdoms, which overthrew old Rome, and 
planted ten Germanic governments in the Western 
Roman empire. Schlegel in his Philosophy of His- 
tory, reckoned ten kingdoms as constituting the mod- 
ern system of Europe ; and he was a convert to 
Romanism. Romanists never see Christian Rome, 
in these symbols ; it is pagan Rome they see ; but 
the images so speak, as to enable history to call the 
right names. 

In another picture, the seven, ten Roman empire, 
is seen as falsely Christian ; and a two-fold church 
power is seen, but it is false to Christ ; and this 
power is seen to create a third papal power in the 
church of God, but it is the imaee of the old Roman 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 403 

pagan power, and the likeness of the Christian Rom- 
an Empire, falsely so called — and the express image 
of Satan, the real anti- Christ of all sacred history. 

In another picture, seven angels appear on the 
scene, and one after another, they pour seven vials 
of wrath upon the imperial Roman world-power,and 
upon spiritual Roman world-power, and lastly upon 
Rome the great city on seVen hills, and the serial 
wars of the centuries, closes up with one universal 
war, brought on by three devils — one from old pa- 
gan Rome, the second from the new but false Chris- 
tian Rome, and the third from papal Rome — and 
then a pure Christianity triumphs over all the anti- 
Christianities of the world. Dr. Whedon says "We 
are apparently living under the fifth vial." Oh, the 
shadows of coming events ! 

The ten, of one of the seven epistles, may not be 
a symbolism ; but ten as seen in the pictures of 
Roman dominion, are ten Teutonic kingdoms, well 
known to history. The blessed thousand years, 
which is a time-symbolism ; and a number of uni- 
versality, is ten raised to a cube, each day repre- 
senting a year, making in all 360,000 years. So long 
shall all anti-Christianities disappear. There will be 
sin, and death shall still reign, but in general, all 
nations will be pure and good. 

What then of the thousands of years of false re- 
ligionism, and of all the Satanic, corrupt and beastly 
governments, and despotic churches, that have per- 
secuted and ruled in the past ? What of the twelve 
hundred and sixty years of Romanism and 
Mohammedism ? "We are in the morning dawn of 
history." There comes 360,000 years of righteous- 



404 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ness, joy, and peace, to all nations. And the final 
number of the saved, as compared with the lost, 
will be as the number hung, as compared with the 
rest of mankind. Oh this is progress ! and it be- 
comes the grandeur of a God. 

The next scene, is a picture of the second coming 
of Satan, after his banishment during the millennial 
ages ; of the great apostacy among the nations — 
but not a martyr slain ; of the destruction of Satan 
and his apostates, by the brightness of the second 
coming of Christ ; of God upon the "great white 
throne," and of earth and heaven dissolved before 
him ; and of the general resurrection and judgment, 
which is the closing scene in the history of the 
old world. 

John, who wept that the seven seals of the seven 
leafed roll of Revelation might be opened, still 
gazed into the future ; and lo, a visional scene of 
most unsurpassed grandeur rises before him. Sym- 
bol puts on the highest perfection of picture, and all 
creation lends its richest materials, and its brightest 
forms, to perfect the pictorial likeness of the new 
heaven, the new earth, and the new city of God. 
One of the seven angel who may be named Gabriel, 
because he was the great revealing angel to Dan- 
iel, and in the gospels, carried John away to a great 
and high mountain of the new world, to show him 
the great city of God, descending from heaven. 

He saw a new world of mountain and plain — vast 
— stupendous — and so like, and yet so unlike the 
old ; for it is the old, changed and made new— mat- 
ter still, made, spiritual, and most heavenly, and 
lovely in all its forms of divinest beauty. From his 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 4.05 

mountain height, he gazed upon the softly green 
city of light, shining with crystal clearness ; and its 
massive walls of jasper resting upon a vast plain, 
375 miles square, rose up 375 miles high in pure 
celestial space. As the angel led him about the 
city, he looked upon its twelve gates — three on 
each side — and all were solid pearls, clear as spirit- 
ual light. 

He saw the twelve foundations of the city wall, 
each a massive gem of greatest vastness ; the first, 
the soft green jasper ; the second, a sky-blue sap- 
phire ; the third, a blue-white Chalcedony ; the 
fourth, a vivid green emerald ; the fifth, a vivid red 
Sardonyx ; the sixth, a vivid red Sardine ; the sev- 
enth, a yellow golden Chrysolite ; the eighth, a sea- 
green Beryl ; the ninth, a yellow topaz; the tenth, a 
a yellow-green Chrysprasus ; the eleventh a deep 
red Jacinth ; the twelfth, a brilliant violet Amethyst; 
and the sevenfold rainbow splendour of these vast 
gems mingling with the light of the city,revealed the 
material, in all the perfection of the spiritual, and 
the beautiful. 

The angel showed him about the city, and led 
him along the streets 375 miles long — and city and 
street were pure, lucid, transparent, gold touched and 
toned with every tint of the rainbow, and all its 
colors raised to the richest perfection of spiritual 
glory. 

He saw the throne of God and the Lamb, and 
out of it flows the clear, radiant crystaline river of 
life : and it flows on through the length of the broad 
street, 375 miles ; and on the banks of the river, are 
the great trees of life, bearing twelve monthly fruit- 



406 INDIANA METHODISM, 

ages, and the leaves of the trees are a medicine, 
preventing all decay and disease among the nations. 
Oh it is the old paradise restored, and made new, 
with every enlargement, and improvement, required 
by the vast needs of the spiritual realm. 

John saw the saved kings of the new world, who 
preside over the heavenly polity, and preserve the 
sweet rhythm and blessed harmony of the celestial 
state ; and he saw them bring the glory of their be- 
ing, history, and character,to the great metropolis, 
that they might honor, and adore the king of kings 
in his palace of light. He saw the saved nations of 
the new earth, each having in his own being, a 
realm of power, glories and felicities, which entitle 
them to see the face of God, and to reign as a re- 
public of kings, for ever and ever. "And there shall 
be no more curse, tears, death, sorrow, crying, nor 
pain : for the former things are passed away." What 
a picture ! Nothing so grand ever proceeded from 
the genius of poet or painter. 

Isaiah's ideal city, with stones of fair colors with 
a foundation of sapphires, with windows of agates, 
gates of carbuncles, and borders of pleasant stones, 
has no glory, when compared with the glory that 
excells, in the immensity, grandeur, and richness, 
of the new metropolis of the world to come. 

It is the city of the great One in Three ; and the 
number sacred to the Father, Son, and the Holy 
Spirit, flames in three gates on each side of the city 
wall ; and the Spirit, the bride, and the hearer say, 
to the saved kings and nations of the first and sec- 
ond resurrection, "Come, Come, Come, enter through 
the gates into the city," "have right to the tree of 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 40^ 

life," and "take of the waters of life freely ;" for the 
fruit of the tree, the leaves of the tree, and the water~ 
ofthe river are immortalizing. It is the city of the 
great four, shining resplendent in the four sides of" 
the high city wall and in the foursquare low wall 
which lined it ; and it is the number sacred to the- 
four universals of the new creation, — matter spirit- 
ualized, immortalized fruit, medicine, and water;- 
and glorified souls, and spiritualized bodies. It is 
the city of the great governmental twelvedoms ;: 
and its twelve angels, represent twelve angelic prin- 
cipalities ; and twelve names on its gates, represent: 
the twelve principalities of saved Jews ; and the 
twelve names on its sapphire foundations, represent" 
the twelve principalities of saved Christians. If 
three in the unity of the Trinity, represent Father,. 
son, and the Holy Spirit, in the government of all v 
why may not the twelve, represent thirty-six ce- 
lestial states in the heavenly world ? Oh wonderful t 
It is divine. Biblical, historic, and scientific ideal- 
ism, embodied in eternal, spiritualized, immortal- 
ized, and glorified realism- Oh the great law of prog- 
ress, can only be satisfied, when the temporal shall 
become the eternal, and "work out for us the far 
more exceeding and eternal weight ofglory,"as John 
saw it, in the new heaven, the new earth and the 
new city of immensity. 

My Dear Dr. Smith, it has been said that the 
Apocalypse "finds its interpreter mad or makes him 
so." But "it is no fortune-telling record." It is a 
book of types, figures, shadows, symbols, pictures ;, 
but it deals with persons and things of the worlds, 
and three are reals. Its symbols and pictures are: 



408 INDIANA METHODISM, 

taken from the historic scriptures — never out of them 
— and they picture realities. Some studythe Apoc- 
alypse and turn prophets. Some mistake the frame 
for the picture. 

Some are ultra-historical in their Apocalypse ex- 
egesis. All this brings the greatest book of predic- 
tion in the Bible into contempt. But the book- 
is a small map of persons and things in heaven, hell 
and earth ; and a little prophetic history of great 
movements— churchly and non-churchly — through 
all time-ages, until we reach the new eternal state. 
It is a book of images and pictures ; but it is also a 
book of plain words, and if we compare it with all 
Scripture, and with history, we shall be able to read 
the signs of the times in which we live. 

God bless you, Dr. Smith and all your loved ones. 
I am still in that high state of mind, which came on 
:me while I was with you. Most of the time, after 
the lightening struck me at Danville, my powers 
folded up and hid themselves in the darkness of un- 
consciousness, and my soul fell into a sort of noth- 
ingness. 

But I was a man of ceaseless prayer. Oh how 
glad I am to find enlargement. I am holding re- 
vival services in my family. How precious are these 
■seasons. Grace and health to yon, my friend. 
Yours truly, 

J. W. T. MCMULLEN. 

P, S. The seventh unsealed leaf, or sheet of the 
•roll of revelation, sweeps through the ages into 
eternity ; and the seven trumpets proclaim more 
Fully the contents of the unsealed roll leaf. 

In this I differ from Dr. Whedan. Pardon my 
•vanity. J. W. T. Mc— . 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 409 



IV. 

LaFayette, March 30, z$8jf, 
Dear Dr. Smith :— 

Again I ask your thought on the glorious Apoca- 
lypse. One in three persons in three parts, and m 
three parts, and in three sevens, runs like a line of 
light through this book. The revelation is of God,, 
through Christ, by the Spirit in three magnificent 
apocalypses ; — and it has seven epistles, a seven, 
leafed roll-sheet, and seven proclaiming trumpets,- 

I write now, on the seven epistles, 

They were written to the seven star — angel-min- 
isters, of the seven Asiatic churches; and through 
them, to the "servants and churches of God, in all 
ages." They are historic and prophetic epistles, tak- 
en from the warm lips of the risen Christ. But I 
write only of the flashes of prediction in these epis- 
tles. The Church of Ephesus had fallen from its- 
"first love," and prophecy blazed out upon its future 
history and doom ; and Gibbon writes, — "In the loss- 
of Ephesus, the Christians deplored the fall of the 
first angel, the extinction of the first candlestick, of 
the Revelation ; the desolation is completed ; and 
the temple of Diana or the church of Mary will 
equally elude the search of the curious traveler." In 
this first epistle another prophetic gleam, shot 
through the ages, and beyond the resurrection ; and 
revealed to the overcomer, "the tree of life, in the 
midst of the paradise of God." In the epistle to the 
Church of Smyrna— the Church of Polpcarp, pupil 



4.IO INDIANA METHODISM, 

of St. John — coming persecution is predicted, but 
no extermination of the Church ; and to this day.as 
Gibbon says : "The populousness of Smyrna is sup- 
ported by the foreign trade of the Franks and the 
Americans." 

In the epistle to the Church in Pergamos, there is 
■a shaft of predictive lightning against it, for its too 
great tolerance of licentious heresy; and Gibbon 
records that "the God of Mohammed, without a rival 

• or a son, is invoked in the Mosque of Pergamos." 

In the epistle to the Church in Thyatira — a work- 
ing church, yet too careless of Christian truth and 
purity — there is a splendid flash of prophetic light 
through the great future, in which the overcomer 
-sees the time when he shall have power over the 
nations, and reign with Christ over the millennial 
peoples, and see Jesus, "the morning star," beam 
over the new heavens and new earth. But, alas ! 
the Mosque of Mohammed rules in Thyatira, and 

• darkness reigns. 

In the epistle to the Church in Sardis — "the church 
ofdeadness, with a few spotless names" — there is a 
.red ray of prophetic light, revealing coming destruc- 
tion ; and a blessed white ray, lighting the overcom- 
«r on to the new Jerusalem, and the glories of res- 
urrection life — and citizenship. "Sardis is reduced 
to a miserable village," and the light of the Church 
lias gone out. 

In the epistle to the Church in Philadelphia, — 
"'the faithful and blameless church" — there is a glo- 
rious sunburst of prediction, revealing jts future 
preservation and triumph ; especially in "the trial 
that shall come upon all the world," just before the 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 411 

judgment of the great white throne ; and disclosing 
to the victor, "the New Jerusalem" — the city, temple 
of God — that shall adorn the new world, in the eter- 
nal state. Of the seven cities, the infidel Gibbon 
writes, "Philadelphia alone has been saved by proph- 
ecy or courage." — "Courage," is an infidel sneer, 
not a reason. — "At a distance from the sea, forgot- 
ten by the emperors, encompassed on all sides by 
the Turks, her valient citizens defended their relig- 
ion and freedom above fourscore years, and at length 
capitulated with the proudest of the Ottomans. 
Among the Greek colonies and churches of Asia, 
Philadelphia is still erect — a column in a scene of 
ruins — a pleasing example that the paths of honor 
and safety may sometimes be the same." 

In the epistle to the Church in Laodicea — "rich in 
goods, but poor in faith — there is a beam of prophe- 
cy, revealing the marriage supper of the Lamb, at 
the resurrection of the Just. Our infidel historian 
says, "The circus and the three stately theaters of 
Laodicea are now peopled with wolves and foxes," 

I change my mind, and write a few words on the 
historic in these epistles. They give historic glimp- 
ses of the state of the churches; of great Roman foe; 
of their Jewish enemy; and of their heretical antago- 
nists. They touch upon three great historic heri- 
cies; two, Shemitic, and the third, Aryan, — Japhetic. 

The first, were Judaizing Christians ; the second, 
was the ancient Balamism and Jesebelism, which 
taught a glowing sensualism in the name of religion; 
and the third, was Nicolasism — from Nicolas, one of 
the first seven deacons of Jerusalem — which taught 
that the body may sin all sins,yet the Spirit remain 



412 INDIANA METHODISM, 

pure; or, that all evil is in matter; hence, arose ascet- 
ecism, enforced celebacy.rejection of meats, the de- 
nial of the real body of Christ.monasticism and self- 
scourging. These three unclean spirits of devils, as 
seen in seven epistles,were to move through the cen- 
turies ; and, they are more fully described, under the 
seventh seal, and still more distinctly proclaimed 
and illustrated, under the seven trumpets of Reve- 
lation. 

But why this number, — Seven Churches, — when 
there were many other Churches? Seven is the num- 
ber of the complete in all Nature, — three, the number 
of the complete in the Divine Nature, and four the 
number of the complete in Created Nature — dead 
matter,living matter, living human souls, and living 
angelic nature. Seven completes the chain of being 
from the lowest to the Infinite Father. Therefore, we 
have the seven-form law that rules in the book of Rev- 
elation ; and seven Churches representing the one- 
ness and Completeness of the general Church, and 
the individualism of all Churches, in all ages; so that 
what the Spirit says to one, in his sevenfold refrain, 
he says to all. 

My Dear Dr. — it is written, "Blessed is he that 
readeth, and they that hear the words of this pro- 
phecy, and keep those things which are written there- 
in." I write you, that we may enjoy together, "the 
words," which came as "a sharp two-edged sword" 
from the burning mouth of "the Son of Man, "cutting 
with a historic and prophetic edge," piercing to the 
dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, of the joints 
and marrow, and is discerner of the thoughts and 
intents of the heart." 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 413 

To be sure it is a book of types, figures, shadows, 
symbols, and pictures, of persons and things in three 
worlds, and in a world yet to be made ; but persons 
and things, are not typed and figured into no-ones, 
and nobodies, and nothings at all ; but so typed, and 
so figured, as to represent great historic realities. 
When we understand the word-paintings of the sa- 
cred artist, we shall find no word juglery, no Delphic 
Oracle, meaning anything or nothing ; nor will we 
speak great swelling words of vanity, about the 
United States in prophecy ; or the personal coming 
of Christ,to the millennium, and the resurrection of the 
martyr, and a personal reign of Christ on earth, dur- 
ing the millenial ages. 

Grace to you Dr. Smith. 

Yours truly, 

J. W. T. McMULLEN. 



V. 

LaFayctte, April 6, 1885. 

Dear Dr. Smith : — 

You remember the magnificent introduction to the 
seven epistles of Revelation. What a glorious ap- 
pearance of Christ. 

This was the first Apocalypse ; for like its divine 
authorship, the book is one in three. The second 
Apocalypse, has a still more gorgeous introduction. 
The divine court is seen, and all the thousands of 
angels are present, in our sky-heaven, to look into the 
future of the Church and world. There is a grand pre- 



4H INDIANA METHODISM, 

lude to the opening of the seven seals. Three, four,, 
seven, and twelve, as ruling numbers, give law and 
order to this part of the book. These numbers arise 
out of the nature of things, as they exist in the Divine 
and in the created. 

It is in the very nature of the Divine, to be one in 
three persons. It is in the nature of the created to 
be four — dead material-nature, living plant-nature, 
living animal-nature, and living spiritual-nature, — 
in angels and men. Hence the four cherubic ones,, 
as universal representatives at the Divine court, as 
John saw them. It is in the nature of things, as they 
exist in God, and in the Created that seven should 
express the complete, and the perfect, in the Divine 
and in creation. Hence the seven day periods of 
creation — six of work, and one of rest — and the sev- 
en days of our week, and the seven colors of the 
rainbow, that goodly sign of Divine promise. 

Hence too, the sacred sevens, as John saw them 
in the pictures of the three divine persons, on, and 
before the throne of revelation. It is in the nature 
of things, that twelve should be a governmental 
number. Hence the twelve signs, within which the 
course of the sun is circumscribed, that rules by 
day, and the twelve annual moon -changes, that ru'e 
by night. 

It is in the nature of things, and perfectly historic, 
that God should rule by three, four, seven, and 
twelve. He rules by three divine persons. He 
rules in nature by four divine powers, less truly 
called laws in science. These four powers — one in 
four, as the air is one in the four winds — are divine 
p3\ver in dead nature, divine power in plant-nature, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 415 

divine power in animal nature, and divine power in 
all soul and spirit-nature. God ruled by seven, 
from Adam to Enoch the seventh. Adam had the 
promise of Christ's first coming, and "was the figure 
of him that was to come." The immortalized Enoch 
had the promise of Christ's second coming, and was 
the figure of the immortalized saints of the general 
resurrection. The seven historic lives, figured the 
six long world-periods, and the seventh the eternal 
world-period, in a state of complete and perfect res- 
urrection life. God ruled by twelve, in founding the 
twelve tribes of the Jewish Church ; and he ruled by 
twelve apostles in founding the Christian Church. 
God ruled by the three sons of Noah, in founding 
the three great Shemitic, Hametic, and Japhetic 
races of men. So too, he ruled by twelve, in found- 
ing the twelve Arabian tribes from Ishmael, the 
twelve Saracen tribes, the twelve Egyptian dynas- 
ties, and the twelve states of the Jonian confederacy, 
at the head of which was our Ephesus, of the seven 
epistles. So too, twelve had the character of gov- 
ernmental completeness, in the twelve Peloponnes- 
ian associations of the Achians, the twelve Cecro- 
pian towns of Attica, the twelve counsellors of the 
Phaeacian king, the twelve members of the an- 
cient court of Areopagus, the twelve tables of Ro- 
man law, and the twelves in the classification of the 
Etrurian magistrates. Now we see a profound 
meaning coming into the three, four, seven and, 
twelve of the Apocalypse. 

It is the very nature of things, that John should 
see all that could be shown, of three divine per- 
sons. It is natural to God, and historic also, that 



4l6 INDIANA METHODISM, 

John should see in the glorious Court of the Father, 
his four cherubic ministers ; and seven other angel- 
ic ministers ; and last of all, that he should see the 
twelfth Michael — the greatest minister of the celes- 
tial state. It is in the nature and history of things, 
that John should see the twice twelve kingly elders 
of the divine court ; and in them behold the one 
church of all ages, and of two dispensations, as rep- 
resented by their throned and crowned chiefs, be- 
fore the throne of God. As Christ is the first, and 
the divine minister ; as the Holy Spirit is the second 
divine minister — and the third person of the divine 
nature ; so the twelve angels, the twelve Jewish eld- 
ers, and the twelve Christian elders, are all min - 
isters, by whom God rules in heaven and earth. 

What John saw in heaven, was the natural, and 
the historic, made complete, perfect and glorious. 
What he saw in the new heaven, and the new earth, 
was still the natural, and the historic, raised to the 
highest and most glorious perfection. How grand 
the prelude to the opening of the seven seals, as 
John saw it ! In that great hour he saw the majes- 
tic singers, and heard a fivefold song, from cherubim 
and elders, and then a new song from cherubs and 
elders, and then a song from "ten thousand times 
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands of an- 
gels ;" and then every creature in heaven, earth and 
sea took up the song, and the billowy roll of the an- 
them, shook the sea of glass beneath the throne of 
God. Oh what a divine levee was that, at the "un- 
folding of the future of the living world and the liv- 
ing Church. "When "a strongangel proclaimed with 
^ loud voice, who is worthy to open the book," "in 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 4. 1 7 

the right hand of the great unnamed on the throne," 
there was the silence of despair in all inhabited 
worlds ; and John "wept much," for the revelation 
of the future of the Church, seemed closed forever. 
But, when "one of the elders," more knowing than 
John, kindl/ said, "Weep not : behold, the Lion of 
the tribe of Juda, the Root of David,hath prevailed to 
open the book ;" then, all heaven, with harp and 
song, and "the prayers of saints," showed the 
stupendous value of the revelation about to be made. 
We must think of "the book" as a roll of seven 
sheets, having seven seals on the edge of the out- 
side leaf As each seal was broken, a new leaf of 
the future was enrolled. The pages of each leaf, 
were written on the inside and outside. 

As John saw, and read, and heard, a picture like a 
dream image would start forth and act its part, and 
then fade away. At the opening of the first four 
seals, the four cherubs thundered, "Come ;" and four 
living ones spring forth, with the freedom of dream- 
like things, and act out the great future. 

The four cherubs, reveal the Father, just as the 
Lamb reveals the Son and his Holy Spirit ; and 
just as the fire-torches reveal the Holy Spirit. The 
four cherubs, in their angel-nature, in their human 
and animal forms, in their unnumbered eyes, in 
their six wings each, and in their number, reveal 
the enthroned God the Father, as All-Seeing, and 
All-Knowing, and swift to will and do, in all the 
four realms of created nature — in all dead dust, in 
all living plant-dust, in all living animal-dust, and 
in all the universe of created spirits. As the four 
cherubs represent the four universals in the created,. 



4-lS INDIANA METHODISM, 

so the first four roll-sheets, and the first-four horse- 
men, have to do with the four universals, in the 
moral history of a fallen world, under the leader- 
ship of Christ. 

As John looked upon the first seal-leaf, he saw a 
crowned white horseman, with a bow and he went 
forth conquering then, and to conquer in all the 
future. This was a picture of the kingly and priest- 
ly power of the Church militant, conquering through 
all time, and triumphing over all foes. In this book 
Jesus is pictured on his white horse, and all the arm- 
ies of heaven folio .v him on white horses ; 
and he conquers all foes, and brings 
the golden age. When John siw the second 
leaf of the great future, he saw its contents pictured 
by a red horseman, having a great sword, and "tak- 
ing peace from the earth, "and causing men"to kill one 
another" through the centuries. When he saw the 
third leaf of coming events, he saw its reading pic- 
tured by the black horseman of war, afflicting the 
ages with "hard times," want, and midnight adver- 
sity. When he saw the fourth leaf of the great 
hereafter, what was written was pictured by death 
as a pale horseman of war, famine, pestilence, and 
beastly brutalism, which follows the blood-demons 
of the weary ages. The red demon of war, the 
black demon of cruel poverty, and the pale demon 
of death in its most horrid forms, has filled the his- 
tory of the past ; but the white horseman of the 
Church, though full of wounds rode on through the 
centuries, throwing fragrance from his "wounded 
parts," and "breathing sweetness out of woe." 

In this view of the four prophetic pictures, there 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 419 

is no egetical force-work, in searching for a succes- 
sion of historic persons, names, and dates ; or for a 
succession of historic powers, with their names, 
dates and deeds through the centuries. We see 
simply, four successive phases of the moral history 
of the Church and world under the reign of Christ. 

Two of the last three of the seven roll-leaves, have 
to do with the spiritual ami heavenly — interests 
most dear to the hearts of all in heaven. As the 
white horse conqueror rode through the ages, he 
saw millions and millions of martyrs fall, in the wars 
of the three great blood demons of prophecy. 

As John read the fifth leaf, symbol put on a more 
perfect picture, and he saw the shadowy soul-forms 
of the martyrs, and heard their cry for justice, at the 
heavenly altar of sacrifice ; and he saw them clad 
with airy vestments of light, and heard it said to 
them "rest for a little season," until the number of 
the martyrs "shall be fulfilled."' God's little season, 
as Peter says, means a few days, and each day a 
thousand years. 

John saw the martyr-souls reappear, as the en- 
throned souls of "the first resurrection"- — a soul res- 
urrection, which began on earth, and is just as real 
as the body-resurrection-"and they lived and reigned 
with Christ a thousand years." 

As he read the sixth leaf, heaven, sky, and earth, 
rushed into the most awful picture of the last judg- 
ment. God sat enthroned ; "the wrath of the Lamb," 
made those "who pierced him, and all the kindred 
of the earth wail," and cry to mountains and rocks 
to hide them from the face of the Father and Son ; 
the sun became black before God, and the moon 



420 INDIANA METHODISM, 

blushed as blood ; the stars fell to the earth, and 
the sky rolled up as a sheet of parchment, and van- 
ished away ; a great earthquake shook the earth to 
pieces, and mountains and islands melted away ; 
kings, great men, rich men, chief captains, mighty 
men, bond men, free men — all uttered a cry of wild- 
est power — "hide us from the face of God and 
the Lamb," such is the close of the golden age ; 
but it is the beginning of eternal ages, still more 
golden. 

Now comes a magnificent interlude. The picto- 
rial scene is thrown upon the plains, mountains, and 
sparkling fountains, of the new world, beyond the 
resurrection, and the scenes of the last judgment 
The painting reveals the resplendent Church of the 
second resurrection, as the one Church, in the three 
historic Churches ofthe past — the patriarchal Church, 
the Jewish Church, and the Christian Church. 

But the picture giv^s special prominence, to "the 
two-fold one Church," ofthe twelve tribes, and "the 
great multitude which no man can number, of all 
nations and kindreds, and people, and tongues." 

Four angels hush the four winds, and still the 
breezes, while a great angel from the splendor of 
the morning dawn, puts the seal of God upon "a 
hundred and forty and four thousand ofthe twelve 
tribes of Israel" — an exact symbol-member, repre- 
senting the saved of ancient Israel, to the end of 
time. The four angels represent the divine power, 
that "works all, in all the four realms of nature, by 
regular methods." 

The sealing angel from the rising sun, personates 
God, who, in Christ, "seals his children with that 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 42 C 

Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our 
inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased 
possession, to the praise of his glory." God of gran- 
deur, what a scene ! It is the finished picture, 
of the finished resurrection church. Then, the 
number ! The heavenly Israelites, can be number- 
ed ; the angels, can be numbered ; hundreds of 
millions of war demons, can be numbered ; but 
Christians of all the ages, 'no man can number." 
And these are they, who are to be led "to living 
fountains of waters," in the new world, "and God 
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." 

As the seventh roll-leaf,with its seven trumpets, 
seven vials, and sevenfold powers of evil, is the third 
and greatest apocalypse, pouring its light upon the 
past, present, and future, I may speak of it in an- 
other paper. 

Oh Dr. Smith, how I would like to spend my 
whole time, in telling the great things of God 
to the people. But I am happy still, as I was when 
I was with you. "No man shall take my crown," 
I "worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Jesus 
Christ, and have no confidence in the flesh," God 
bless you in your work of faith, and labor of love. 
All hail, and farewell. 

Yours in hope, 

J. W. T. MCMULLEN, 



422 INDIANA METHODISM, 



VI. 

LaFayette, Ind., April ij, 1885. 
Dear Dr. Smith : — 

Like the two that have gone before it, the third 
"Apocalypse," has its divine three, its sacred fours, 
sevens, and twelves. It has also, its infernal three, 
seven, and ten. These numbers rule as laws, in all 
the scenes dramatized in the revelation. We must 
know them, if we would know God in history. 

There is also a time-order, and a Satanic time- 
period, and a blessed time-number, which we must 
know, if we would see the triumph of Christ in his- 
tory. 

We are not to look in this prophecy for historic 
names, dates, and a certain order of events. True, 
the name of Cyrus was given 150 years before he 
was born ; and the name of Messiah was given some 
500 years before he was born. Three of the four uni- 
versal world-empires, are named in prophecy — Baby- 
lon, Persia, and Grecia — but the exact historic order 
of events is not given. Without giving names, Dan- 
iel predicts marked periods in Persian history, and 
decisive eras in Grecian history, just as one would 
write them after the events had taken place. 

He also hints what was to come, down to the end 
of the world. But such exactness, are exceptions 
in prophecy, not the general rule. 

But why such mystery, in the persons, words, 
and things, that show the future ? Why is there 
mystery in anything ? Why has nature any secret 
at all ? Why have not the present and the past told 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 423 

us everything ? Why do rulers, in the family,church, 
and state, keep secrets that are told after a while, 
or never told at all ? Why in all we learn, is there 
so much toil ? Do not all the best things, cost us 
the hardest work ? God keeps his own secrets. He 
tells us enough. 

He speaks to others, and they tell us enough. 
Things are made to show us, and they are plain 
enough. When we need to know more, he will take 
us to heaven, or send us to hell, and we shall still 
know enough. Besides, God is the God of beauty, 
glory, majesty, grandeur, and power in thought 
and speech ; and he has given prophecy, every im- 
age of oratory and eloquence, to express the thoughts 
of his heart, which stand fast forever. 

Prophecy comes to us in the highest and divinest 
forms of speech, and its sacred style becomes the 
God of Revelation. 

The third Apocalypse is introduced by another 
imposing prelude. 

The Lamb opened the seventh seal, and its words 
of light flashed through the centuries. It was a 
temple scene. Within, the divine court stood be- 
fore God. Without, stood the angels, martyrs and 
all saints, in voiceless worship. There was silence 
in heaven for half an hour. Seven angels prepared 
themselves to sound seven trumpets. A priestly 
angel with a golden censor stood at the golden al- 
tar with much incense, "to offer it with the prayers 
of all saints before the throne of God." Martyrs 
cry for justice, and "the prayers of saints ascended 
up before God, "and fire fell from heaven , and a tem- 
pest of flame swept the earth, and it shook with 



424 INDIANA METHODISM, 

thunderings and earthquake, and great Babylon was 
remembered. 

The three Personalities of the Trinity, inspire the 
three apocalypses, and reveal the future in three 
cycles. 

The first and least, is the seven-church cycle ; 
the second, and the lesser, is the seven-seal cycle ; 
the third and the larger,is the seven-trumpet cycle. 
All this is based upon the great law of progress — 
from the least to the greatest, from the worst to the 
best, from the lowest to the highest — this is the law 
of progress. 

God through Christ, by the spirit, by the seventh- 
roll-leaf, and by seven angels revealed the future of 
the church, of Rome, and of the world, on and on, to 
the scenes of the final judgment. That the seven 
trumpets dealt with the Rome, of the future, is seen 
in the fact, that she was the only great city which 
in the dialect of the spirit, could be called Sodom 
and Egypt, and fallen Jerusalem, where our Lord 
was crucified, and his saints martyred. Rome was 
the only city of John's day.thatcould be called "Baby- 
lon the great";that great city, which reigneth over the 
kings of the earth ; that sitteth upon many waters 
in her commercial power.and in her power over sub- 
ject — nations living upon many waters ; "that sitteth 
on seven mountains," or seven hills, on which 
Rome was founded ; and that sit upon the seven 
great worlds — powers of prophecy and history,which 
she embodied in her empire. 

Rome is the only fourfold power of evil, that the 
seven trumpets could proclaim, as Sodom, Egypt, 
fallen Jerusalem, and Babylon, drunk with the biood 



SKETCHES AND INCIDEMTS. 425 

of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of 
Jesus. 

Rome is the only sevenfold power of Satan him- 
self, that could be predicted, as uniting in her world- 
empire, the seven great world-powers, which have 
been the cruel oppressors of God's people, Rome 
is the only power that could figure in prediction, as 
uniting in her empire the universal empires of Dan- 
iel's prophecy, and the seven great world-powers of 
all prophecy and history, and the ten Teutonic 
Western kingdoms, that rose on the ruins of her 
Western borders. 

Rome has ever been anti-God, and anti-Christ, 
whether Pagan, semi-Christian, or papal. She has 
ever been another Egypt, another Assyria, another 
Babylon, another Persia, another Greece ; and al- 
ways pagan in spirit, while yet she was semi-Chris- 
tian, and papal ; and a Sodom in sensualism, and de- 
bauchery of manners. 

What Rome was when our Lord was crucified. 
What she was when Peter — most likely — was taken 
from the church in old Babylon to be hung upon the 
cross in the new Roman Babylon; the same has she 
been, during the last six hundred years of her reign. 
Under "Strong delusion," Rome knows not, that 
John saw her pictures taken in the grand art-gallery 
of heaven ; and all history attests the truth of these 
prophetic paintings. Her Cardinal Bellarnine, and 
her Cardinal Baronius, say that Babylon means 
Rome in the Apocalypse ; and her great Bossuet 
says, "The features are so marked that it is easy to 
decipher Rome under the figure of Babylon." But, 
when Roman authors see Rome in Apocalyptic 



426 INDIANA METHODISM, 

paintings, they see Pagan Rome, or the Christian 
Rome of some future day ; they never see the Rome 
of some six hundred years of bloody persecution. 
The Pope's Rhemish note says, "the blood of heri- 
tics is not called the blood of saints, no more than the 
blood of thieves, man-killers, and other malefactors; 
for the shedding of which, by order of justice, no 
commonwealth shall answer." 

Oh thou, who hast long "sat as a queen;" the last 
living apostle, saw an angel of great power come 
from heaven, and the earth flamed with his glory ; 
and John heard the angel's predictive song of tri- 
umph over thee. Oh Roman Babylon; and here 
are some of its lines — "Babylon the great is fallen, 
is fallen"; "Rejoice over her, oh heaven, and ye holy 
apostles and prophets ; for God hath avenged you 
on her" — and in her was found the blood of proph- 
ets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon 
the earth. 

Rome is the great burden of Apocalyptic proph- 
ecy, and the grand objective point in the proclama- 
tion of the seven trumpets. For Rome is the em- 
bodiment of Satan, — Paul's "man of sin," and John's 
"anti-Christ that should come," — and in her descent 
"to perdition," she is the sum of all the anti-Chris- 
tianities of the past. 

Seven angels, with seven trumpets, proclaimed 
the judgments of God upon Rome, through all the 
periods of her coming history. The seven angels 
are classed in the great four, and three. The first 
four, personate the God of all dead materialism, 
the God of all plant materialism, the God of all ani- 
mal materialism, and "the God of the spirits of all 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 427 

flesh" and of angels, as about to bring his fourscore 
judgments upon Rome. The blasts of the first four 
trumpets, are brief and terrible. 

The first blast called down a furious storm of hail, 
fire and blood, upon Egyptian Rome ; and "the 
third part" of "the inhabiters of the earth," she ruled, 
were destroyed. The second blast hurled down a 
great burning mountain of fire upon the Roman sea'; 
and "the third part" of the slain, reddened the sea 
with blood. The third blast cast down a great 
burning star from heaven, upon the rivers and foun- 
tains ; and a' third part of the bitter wormwood-wa- 
ters, became death to many men of apostate Rome. 
At the third blast, the smitten sun, moon, and stars, 
of apostate Rome, shone with but "a third part" of 
their former light and splendor. But, in all this 
there is more love than vengeance, and mercy spares 
more than wraths destroys. "So be it, Oh Lord." 

These awful pictorial scenes of prophecy were 
made history by the Arian Alaric, the first barbari- 
an conqueror of Rome ; by Attila, "the scourge of 
God, and the king of the Huns" ; by the Arian Gen- 
seric, the conqueror of North Africa, and he who let 
loose his barbarians to ravage and pillage Rome ; 
and by Odoacer, who in 476, "put an end to the 
western Roman empire." 

These four great chiefs, guiding the storms of the 
great northern barbarian migration ; and inspired 
by a perverted Arian Christianity ; swept over the 
land, the sea and the waters, on which Rome sat in 
her commercial and political power, and "darkened" 
forever, her imperial sun, moon and stars ; and buried 
Graeco-Roman heathenism, under the ruins of the 



428 INDIANA METHODISM, 

western empire. These wild barbarians, holding 
Arian Christianity, and scarcely knowing the differ- 
ence between it and orthodoxy, "labored with the 
same zeal in the destruction of idolatry, as in the 
destruction of the empire, and really promoted the 
victory of the Christian religion." After a conflict 
of four or five centuries, with the weaponless relig- 
ion of Christ ; there is a sadness, in the sublime 
tragedy, which put an end to Graeco-Roman heath- 
enism, with all its wisdom, power, beauty, literature, 
art, and civilization ; and laid it in the dust, without 
the hope of a resurrection. "The last glimmer of 
life in the old religion, was a pitiable prayer for its 
toleration, and a lamentation over the ruins of the 
empire." 

There is a bright picture of the true Church and a 
dark and horrible picture of the false Church, of the 
fifth century. Salvianus the weeping Jeremiah of 
his time, says that "the Christians of Italy, Africa, 
Gaul and Spain were — many of them — drunkards, 
debauchees, adulterers, fornicators, robbers, mur- 
derers ; going from worship to deeds of shame ; 
rich men committing murder and fornication ; worse 
than the barbarians and heathen ; worse than the 
wild Saxon, the faithless Frank, the inhuman Goth, 
the drunken Alanian, the licentious Hun ; Chris- 
tians of Rome worse than the Arian, Goths and 
Vandals, who add to the gross sins of nature, the re- 
fined vices of civilization, passion for theatres, de- 
bauchery, and unnatural lewdness. Christians lost 
to the whole power of Christianity ; therefore has 
the just God given them into the hands of the bar- 
barians, and exposed them to the ravages of the mi- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 429 

grating hordes." 

This picture is true in general, and it shows the 
moral and psychological reasons of the final dissolu- 
tion of the western empire of Rome. In the Chris- 
tendom of the fifth century, we see something of 
Paul's great "falling away," and the coming of "the 
man of sin" in the near future. 

The last three of the seven trumpets, are trumpets 
of woe. As the woeful voices of these trumpets roll 
forth in thrilling thunders, fiery images of porten- 
tous import, rush through the ghastly twilight, and 
chill, of "the dark ages/'and shadow forth the grand 
struggle between Christ and anti-Christ, until "the 
Captain of our salvation," shall reign without a rival. 

At the sound of the fifth and first woes trumpet, 
figures of terrific prophecy rise up from the black 
depths of hell and fill the whole scene. 

A fallen star from Heaven, the angel of hell, the 
Hebrew "Abaddon, "the Greek "Apollyon," bearer of 
the key of hell — given him by the Great Supreme — 
and king of the error-demons of hell, was seen to 
darken "the sun and the air," with the smoke of his 
infernal realm, and to let lose hellish swarms of in- 
fernals, to hurt, sting, and torment men, during the 
dark ages. 

These mighty armies of infernals, were seen to- 
march through Christendom, "with all the deceive- 
ableness of unrighteousness," — human in look,men- 
like in the dignity of their faces,, women-like in the 
glory and beauty of their hair, and golden crowned 
victors, — but their basal natures,, were devilish audi 
brutal ; for they bit with "the teeth of lions, and 
stung with the stings of scorpions." God's creations- 



430 INDIANA METHODISM, 

are no democratic chaos. He who gave to Satan 
the key of hell, gave command to his error-demons, 
"that they should not kill, but torment men ;" but 
only those men who have not the seal of God. 

God is the God of order, in heaven, earth, and 
hell ; and men who will not be governed by God 
and his angels, must be governed by the devil and 
his angels. The horrible picture of Satan and his 
error-demons, has had ages of history in all Chris- 
tendom. How have the souls of men been poisoned, 
hurt, and tormented by the hell-born, infernal, soul- 
corrupting errors of Papalism.and Mohammedanism, 
even in times when they did not kill the body ? 
How has life been made a misery, and death a de- 
sire, to untold thousands of the profane world, by 
the hellish lies of these two great systems of error? 
How has human life been distracted, by the eternal 
racket, and the infernal noise, made by the error- 
demons of Romanism and Mohammedanism ? How 
have men, and the French nation of the past, been 
•driven into atheism, by the stupendous lies of 
Rome ? But, though we have had a thousand years 
of darkness, there has been twilight all the time, and 
now the morn of the Reformation shines forth upon 
the world. Yet when we look through the "Middle 
Ages," before the Star of the Reformation, rose up- 
on the long night of Christendom's sorrow, it is no 
wonder, that the cherub — "eagle" — not angel, is the 
adopted reading by all scholars — flew through mid- 
heaven, crying, "Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters 
of the earth by reason of the trumpets of the three 
angels, which are yet to sound." 

At the sound of the sixth and second woe-trumpet, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 43 I 

strange forms of war-furies, blazing in wrath, cast 
their predictive shadows upon the scenes of the dark 
and terrible future. "A voice from the four horns 
of the golden altar which is before God," where an 
angel with a golden censer personates Christ, offer- 
ing clouds of fragrant incense, "with the prayers of 
all Saints" — this voice cried, "Loose the four Angels 
which are bound in the great river Euphrates," and 
the wars of the Christian ages began. The sacred 
four is the number of universals, and bespeaks the 
sum total of the wars of the Christian centuries, 
until "the nations shall learn war no more." 

The four angels, shadow forth the universal war- 
spirits of Christendom, which have filled the world 
with their deeds of vengeance. 

The great river is not the Euphrates of old Baby- 
lon, but the Euphrates of our new Roman Babylon, 
^'which sitteth upon many waters ;" and we are 
plainly told, that the waters are "peoples and na- 
tions." 

The war spirits of the peoples and nations are 
bound until God's great hour, day, and year shall 
come ; and when he says "Loose them!" the minis- 
ters of vengeance spring forth, and divine Justice is 
seen, in the strange work of judgment. 

"The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." At the 
word "Loose," from the voice of heaven, ten, raised 
to the seventh power of two-hundred millions of 
•cavalry-ten raised to the seventh power and redu- 
plicated — to say nothing of the infantry, sprang into 
the vast field of vision, and fought the bloody wars 
of the Christian ages. These hundreds of millions 
were war-demons, and symbols of war-furies, per- 



432 INDIANA METHODISM, 

sonating the countless millions of war-men, that have 
baptized the earth with blood, through all Christian 
centuries. 

The horsemen were seen with breastplates of dull, 
smoky, fiery red, with a brimstone hue ; and their 
lion-headed horses, breathed out fire, smoke and 
brimstone ; and the serpent-headed tails of their 
horses, hurt, and poisoned the men of false religions. 
They are swordless, arrowless war devils, under king 
Abaddon, Apollyon, Destruction; and their business 
is, to raise hell on earth, and move war- men to 
slaughter the devotees of false religionism. The 
divine voice commissioned them, "to slay the third 
part of men ;" and in the wars of the ages, there 
have been more blessings than woes, and divine 
mercy has rejoiced over the demands of Justice. 
But neither the riches of mercy, nor the curses of 
Justice, in the devastating, impoverishing, demoral- 
izing, and barbarizing wars of Christendom, have 
made pagans, and Christians who are virtual pagans 
repent of their false religions, "their murders, their 
fornication, and their thefts." Two thirds of the 
profane world, unsealed of God, though punished 
by the most infernal wars, have remained wicked ; 
showing that wars may kill, and demoralize, but 
they cannot reform men. 

In these views of Apocalyptic prophecy, there is 
no wresting of Scripture, no taking from it, no add- 
ing to it, no "exegesis run wild," and no ultra-his- 
torical force work; but an honest comparing of scrip- 
ture with scripturejof Apocalyptic prophecy with alt 
Bible prophecy;and an honestcomparingofthe scenes 
of prophecy with the scenes of history, Apocalyptic 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 433 

prophecy, like prophecy elsewhere in the Scriptures, 
pictures things to come, as though they were the 
things of the present or the past ; and some of the 
pictures we have seen, fit exactly in the frames of 
history. 

When we see the prophetic pictures in their own 
historic picture-frames, matching each other per- 
fectly, we feel quite sure, that they were made for 
one another, by God in prophecy and in history. 

As all pictures seen in glasses, and in clear 
waters, and on the walls of our homes, and in galler- 
ies of art, are likenesses of real persons and things; 
so the historic and prophetic images of the Apoca- 
lypse, picture things that were, and persons and 
things that are, and that are to come. As persons 
and things, cast their shadows upon sun-lit grounds; 
so the historic and prophetic persons and things of 
our Apocalypse, cast their shadows upon the divine- 
ly illumined scenes of the past, present and fu- 
ture. 

As in the plain words of prophecy, as well as in 
all its pictures and shadows, "we see as in a glass 
darkly," and see and know but in part ; so in all the 
fulfillments of prophecy in history, while we see 
and know more, still we see and know but in part ; 
and only the eternities of heaven and hell, can fill 
up the grand outlines of prophetic history. Nearly 
2000 years of Christian prophecy have gone into 
history, and while the great masters and scholars 
may disagree in some things, still their general 
agreement, on the fulfillments of prophecy in his- 
tory, is full of assurance. So then, "we have a more 
sure word of prophecy, to which we do well to give 



434 INDIANA METHODISM, 

heed, as to a light that shines in a dark place, until 
the day dawn, and the day star arise in our hearts.'" 

In the study of prophetic paintings, we must not 
mistake the pictures, for the picture-frames, or for 
the reals, or for the occasionals, in the character and 
rank of the actors in the machinery of the predictive 
part of the panorama; nor must we put the prophet- 
ic pictures in wrong historic frames. We must not 
mistake the enthroned form of the Father, for that 
God who fills all space. 

We must not mistake the slain seven-horned and 
seven eyed Lamb, for the real form of Christ. We 
must not mistake the seven fires before the throne, 
that picture but one revealing and purifying Spirit. 
We must not mistake the occasional forms of the 
cherubs, for the real forms of these ruling angels. 
Nor, must we mistake the seven angels, as merely 
occasional characters in the predictive drama, rather 
than angels of permanent rank in the divine gov- 
ernment. As well say, that Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit, and the twice twelve princely elders, as pict- 
ured in revealing and predictive scenes, are occa- 
sional, and not permanent persons of official rank, 
as to say this of the seven angels, the four cherubs, 
or of "Michael, one of the chief princes." Nor must 
we mistake the half hour of silent worship in heaven, 
nor the five months of the error demons, nor the 
hour, day, month, and year, of the war-demons, as 
notes of real time, or of symbol time, and then look in- 
to actual history,to find the exact length of time indi- 
cated. All that these time words mean, is, that at the 
divinely-fixed times and seasons, which the Father 
has in his own power, the error-demons will spring 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 435 

forth to torment men, and the war demons will 
dash through the Christian ages, taking vengeance 
on them that know not God, whether heathen pa- 
gans or Christian pagans ; but only in the final ov- 
erthrow of Babylonic Rome, will she be "rewarded 
even as she rewarded" the martyrs and saints of 
Jesus, and receive "double" punishment for all her 
hellish corruptions, and furious persecutions. 

Dear Dr. Smith, your epistle with its words of 
cheer, so welcome to my lonely heart, came to hand. 
Lonely heart,did I say ? Not alone ; for lo, "Christ 
is with me always." He shall be magnified in my 
body, whither by life or death. If Heaven wills, I 
will send you another paper on the still greater 
trumpetings, of the seventh angel, with the grand 
prelude and interludes which distinguish this part 
of Apocalyptic prophecy. 

God bless you, more and more, my manly, gen- 
erous, and noble friend. Grace, health, and joy to 
you. Amen. 

Yours as ever, 

J. W. T. MCMULLEN. 



VII. 



LaFayette, Indiana, May, 2, 1885. 

Dear Dr. Smith : — 

I send you another paper. I do this, because I 
know you have a tender regard, for my feeble think- 
ing. The old masters, have greatly helped me in 



436 INDIANA METHODISM, 

all my thinking on prophetic themes. I follow no 
new lights, however learned they may be. The old 
teachers are the best. Theirs is no ultra-idealism, 
or ultra-historic realism, in Bible exegesis ; but a 
Scriptural ideal realism, and thus figure, symbol, and 
picture, are made to speak sense, and not nonsense. 

I trust the view I have given of the eleventh 
chapter of the Apocalypse — "the cross of interpre- 
ters" — will give you pleasure. Dr. Whedon, has 
helped more than all others : yet I venture to give 
my own thought, even when I differ a little from so 
great a man. I quote but little; because a man of your 
reading, does not require it. I simply give you 
the result of my Apocalyptic studies. 

I send you a song of the morning dawn of eter- 
nity, by a nameless poet. "Why asketh thou the 
name, seeing it is a secret." 

I work hard in the garden and orchard, and write 
you, a little at a time, morning, noon, and at night. 
I hope I do not weary you with my words. 

We are all quiet in churchly things. The Lord 
looked on his church once, to see if there was a man 
among them ; and he wondered that there was no 
man. There is no man among us, to awaken us, or 
like the sackcloth witnesses, to "torment" us with 
their testimony. The Lord send us the dew of the 
morning, and "the time of refreshing." 

Health and peace to you, my glorious friend. 
Yours, as ever, 

J. W. T. MCMULLEN. 

P. S. You know how I prize your great ability. 
Please give me your judgment on the defects of my 
papers. J. W. T. McM. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 437 

THE DAWN OF THE MORN OF ETERNITY". 

See new heavens, like crystal waters bright; 

See a new sky, blushing in rosy light; 

See a new earth, resplendent as the sky; 

See golden plains, and hills, and mountains high: 

See sparkling spring, and fountains clear as air; 

See the pure river, radiant and fair: 

See trees of life, with leaves of fadeless hue; 

See all, so pure, so good, so new, and true! 

See old nature, etherial and new; 

See such lands and skies, as man never knew: 

See rich flowers, of rarest, sweetest bloom; 

See holy ones that breath the rich perfume: 

See old things changed, and worthy of a God; 

See such a world, as mortals never trod: 

See the great globe, roll on in light divine; 

■Clothed with rainbows, God's own most gracious sign, 

The rolling orb, leaves no place dark and cold; 

As in the former world, in days of old : 

No pole of Arctic ice, shall there be seen; 

No deadly night shade, shall brood o'er the scene: 

"No dread malaria, shall taint the air; 

jNTo poisoned winds, spread sickness everywhere: 

The light of life, in trembling waves shall move; 

And all the sky, shall blush in warmest love. 

Imperial world! broad, grand — the great sun! 

Home of the Infinite, -the Holy One! 

Home of the saved, and all the morning stars! 

Home! home! sweet home! forever free from jars ! 

Home! home! free from all elemental wars! 

Home! where flowers never skirt eternal frost! 

Home! where none shall ever say, I am lost! 

Power divine, upholds the shining ball ; 

All world's move round it at Jehovah's call: 

Almightv force, supports the steady pole; 

The eternal wheels of nature round it roll. 

No storms shall ever sweep, the howling skies; 

TSTo chilling vapors from the earth arise: 

No crystal fountains, play in burning sands; 



438 INDIANA METHODISM, 

No river winds its way through thirsty lands. 

All is new, — new grass, everywhere is seen; 

New flowers grow in all the living green: 

The fields are fragrant, with the scented rose; 

The gay lilies, their richest sweets disclose: 

The spicy woodlands, cast a pleasing shade; 

And all, in richest glory, are arrayed: 

The great sun world, moves on in gladsome light; 

And dims all suns, and moons, and stars of night. 

See the sun-girt city! see its azure dome! 

See golden mansions! see God's palace home! 

See streets of gold, flashing soft purple light! 

See ethereal homes, that charm the sight! 

See the wide river, as it flows in smiles, 

Mid the street, for more than three hundred miles! 

See jasper walls, and bulwarks diamond square! 

See gates of solid pearl! see Jesus there! 

Beauteous city! so vast, high and wide! 

More than three hundred miles, on every side! 

Equal in breadth, and length, and depth, and highth! 

The glory of all worlds, in most lovely light! 

Twelve foundations, each a vast precious stone; 

Throw out the splendors of the Monarch's throne: 

The clear green jasper — most delightsome hue; 

Vies with the sky-like sapphire— an azure blue: 

Chalcedony, in perfect blue and white: 

Mingles rich glories, with celestial light: 

From the green emerald, finest lustre goes; 

The great red sardonyx, blushes like the rose: 

The red sardius, shines like rosy morn: 

The golden chrysolite, the scenes adorn. 

Sea-green beryl, light green topaz, beam afar: 

The golden chrysoprasus, gleams like a star: 

Rosy jacinth, and amethyst, smile in love; 

And rainbow splendors, in soft light waves move. 

Lovely rainbow! seen o'er the throne of thrones! 

Seen in the twelve massive, foundation stones! 

Seen in the twelve gates, of orient pearl! 

Seen flashing ten thousand tints, o'er the world! 

Seen in the jasper walls, of tender green! 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 439 

Seen in all the soft light, of love serene! 

God of the rainbow! Lord of glorious might! 

God and Christ, shine in the great home of light! 

The central glory, drives all night away; 

And radiates a rich, vernal, endless day: 

On the high mountain, from its lofty crown; 

See the queenly city, from heaven come down: 

Sparkling with gold, and gems, and precious stones; 

Throwing light and life, o'er new and changeless zones: 

The crystal glory, of God's jasper throne; 

Blushes in smiles, like the rosy sardine stone; 

This pure force, long so dark to mental sight; 

Now gives new power, new life, new forms of light: 

God makes all new, out of long wasted force; 

Which pours from all the planets in their course; 

His son prepares for all his saints a place; 

In crystal, — golden realms, — of purest space, 

Suns, systems, and every glittering star, 

May go out, and become a frozen char; 

But the eternal forces, still remain; 

To raise up new forms, and new life sustain. 

Has pure force done this in the dateless past? 

And raised up all realms, and made them stand fast? 

If God be not, cannot force do once more? 

What it did, long eternities before? 

Hail imperial city, one in three! 

One, in four sublime harmonies agree! 

One, in seven rainbow splendors, glow in light! 

One, in sacred twelves, shines gloriously bright! 

Metropolis of heaven! stupendous! vast! 

Luminous, massive, it shall ever last! 

Itsmany-hued brilliants, shall ever shine;: 

As the form of God, and in light divine. 

Genius never painted, a scene so grand; 

As the home of God, in the heavenly land: 

Thought never grasped, such material things; 

As form the great world, of celestial kings. 

Body of heaven! condensed ether! clear — brightl 

Like sky-blue sapphire — illustrious sight! 

Earth, clear as crystal! like a sea serene! 



440 INDIANA METHODISM, 

And all heaven's richest colors, paint the scene. 

Pure bride of Christ! queen of celestial birth! 

She gives the morning star, to all the earth; 

And from her dewy locks, shakes sweetest beams, 

O'er all nations, in softly tender gleams. 

Joyous, motherly, charming, gracious queen! 

In the dew of youth, she is always seen: 

From her golden hair, flies the beams of the morn; 

To cheer countless millions, of her first born. 

Twelve angel-sons, ruling twelve angel states; 

Walk in her light, and stand before her gates: 

Twelve princely sons, of Israel's great race; 

Present twelve tribes, before the Father's face: 

Twelve apostles, present Adam's Gentile line; 

And all behold, God's tender rainbow sign: 

These thrice twelve sons, of everlasting fame; 

Reign over thrice twelve states in God's great name: 

Twice twelve names, on gates and bulwarks strong; 

Flame out in beauty o'er the land of song: 

And o'er these names, rich rainbow banners wave; 

In lofty triumph, o'er death and the grave. 

-'It is done:" Spirit and bride say, come home: 

The resurrection sons of light that roam, 

O'er pleasant lands of beauty, near or far, 

Approach with songs of joy, the morning star; 

And in God's royal presence, bend and fall; 

And sing him One in Three, and all in all. 

They eat ambrosia, from great trees of life; 

Drink crystal nectar, and live free from strife: 

They walk in green shades, on the river shore; 

Theirs are heavenly pleasures, forevermore. 

Great kings, and all saved nations, walk in white; 

And bring their wealth, to God's own home of light: — 

A wealth of being, character, and fame; 

Won on the sin-cursed earth, in Christ's dear name. 

Kings reign in love, o'er few, or many realms; 

They rule in harmony, and blessed rythm: 

The saints all rule, in sweetest self-control; 

And rest, in body, spirit, mind, and soul. 

No trump from mountain throne, sounds angry law: 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 44 1 

No judgment trump, makes nations wail in awe: 
No dread trumpets, sound woes from earth and hell: 
No more work of angels who from heaven fell: 
No more the crystal sea, beneath God's throne, 
Throws out red wrath, upon the heavenly zone: 
No more sickness, forever, — no more pain: 
No more dread wars, — no more in battle slain: 
No more sorrow, — no one in grief shall cry; 
No more parting, — like angels, none shall die; 
No more weeping, — God wipes away all tears: 
No more curse, through all the eternal years: 
No more shall days be numbered, to the blest: 
No more weary ones,— but endless rest. 



Dear Dr. Smith : — 

The third apocalypse is introduced by a magnifi- 
cent prelude. This grand prelude precedes the 
sounding of the seventh, and the third and last 
trumpet of woe. "Another mighty angel" appears 
on the scenes. His majestic chest is clad with a 
cloud. His glorious head is wreathed with a rain- 
bow, which reveals him as the representative of the 
enthroned Father. His splendid limbs and feet be- 
neath his skirts, dazzled like the white heat of melt- 
ed brass, which declared him the personal representa- 
tive of the Son of God. His voice of seven thunders, 
showed him to be the representative of the Holy spirit, 
as the great revealing one. His burning feet,on earth 
and sea, indicated the world-wide domain, over 
which he presides, as the representative of the Holy 
Trinity. His face beams as the genial sun, and his 
tall, immense form, proclaims him worthy to repre- 
sent the divine, as the World- Angel, announcing 
world-destinies. 



442 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Who is he ? Michael is named in this third apoc- 
alypse, and his rank is known. But who is this ma- 
jestic herald, whose voice roars like a lion ? — the 
most majestic sound from living nature. It is Ga- 
briel, named in the book of Daniel, and in the Gos- 
pel of Luke. He stood before Daniel as a "man." 
''His body" — an angel has a spiritual body — shone 
like the green and blue splendors of the beryl. "He 
was clothed in linen, and his loins were girded with 
fine gold." His face was like lightning, his eyes as 
lamps of fire, his arms and feet like polished brass, 
and his voice like the voice of a multitude. He re- 
sembled Jesus, as he appeared to John in Patmos. 
His likeness, as given by Daniel and John, are pict- 
ures of the same great personality. Gabriel means, 
God's strong one, and John calls him, "a mighty 
angel." Mighty as he is, neither he, nor Michael, 
"who is like God," was worthy to open the seals of 
the second apocalypse ; for angels of the highest 
rank, like the cherubim Ezekiel saw, can only reveal, 
as they are moved by the Spirit. Gabriel could 
only bring a little book from the Divine Revelator 
— symbol of the great predictions about to follow — 
and give it to John ; for like the apostle, he could 
only speak, as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. 
As seen in Daniel, and in the apocalypse, Gabriel is 
the great prophet-statesman among the angelic 
princes ; for he deals with the affairs of state, wheth- 
er in heaven, earth, or hell. August being! now 
clothed with the glory of the sun and the splendour 
of flame, tinted with the green, blue, and golden col- 
ors of the beryl ; and now flaming with the splen- 
dour of the sun and of fire, and clad with a cloud, 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 443 

woven of the finest vapor drops, and sparkling like 
dew, and crowned with the rainbow of the eternal 
throne. 

If, the enthroned presence, in sight like crystal, 
and like the red blush of the sardine stone, with a 
rainbow-arch over his head, touching the crystal sea 
on either side ; — if a lamb with seven horns and sev- 
en eyes, and seven fire- flames, were worthy like- 
nesses of Father, Son and Holy Spirit ; then it be- 
came the divine, to make Gabriel the representative 
of the Great One in Three. As the angel cried his 
loud wail at man's coming doom, seven thunders 
gave their response — the thunders co-ordinating 
with the divine sevens, and expressive of God's om- 
nipotence. As the seer was about to write the un- 
revealable mysteries uttered by the Spirit, he was 
forbidden ; for they were intended for the angel, and 
for John alone ; and possibly, refered to the "finished 
mystery of God," and the last judgment. Had he 
written the utterances of the seven thunders, God's 
friends might not have been able to bear them ; and 
his enemies, such as Julian the apostate, knowing 
too much, might have attempted to defeat and shame 
prophecy, instead of being unconscious workers to- 
gether with God, in the punishment of apostate 
Christendom, and in the punishment of the world. 
The angel's great oath sweeps the wide range of 
creation, and through "the days of the sounding of 
the seventh trumpet, to the end of time, and the day 
of judgment." So all-comprehending is the seventh 
trumpet, that a fresh order is given to commence 
again ; and the apostle is made a world-wide and 
a world-long prophet, to "peoples," "nations," 



444 INDIANA METHODISM, 

"tongues," and "kings." To all who read and hear 
his words, he is still prophesying to the world. 

We have now an interlude of thrilling interest. 
Under the image of the Jewish temple and the court 
of the gentiles, we catch a glimpse of the true and 
pure Church, and of the apostate Church, for 1260 
years. This is the first time this adverse number 
is given in the Apocalypse, and Scripture teaches 
us again and again, that days mean years. Daniel 
and John employ the same famous symbolism of 
time, and the very same symbols of the Roman em- 
pire ; and, doubtless, record the explanations of the 
symbols, as given by the same interpreting angel — 
God's mighty Gabriel. Symmetry and analogy re- 
quire us to view John's and Daniel's 1260 days, as so 
many years ; and as an approach to a definite peri- 
od, during which, the true Church of Christ, should 
be trodden down by the last power of Rome. John's 
great numbers, the 144,000, the 200,000,000, the 7,- 
OOO, and the 1,000, are the exact for the inexact ; 
but, like Daniel's seventy weeks, the 1260 years, of 
the last Roman power, is very nearly literal. For 
1260 years, was the pure Christian Church, to be 
trodden down by a fallen gentile Church ; for 1260 
years, the holy Church has stood the siege, and held 
the fort for God and his Christ. For 1260 years, 
John's measuring reed, — the sceptre of sacred truth — 
has revealed the true Church, that appears in histo- 
ry, in "the fullness of the measure of the stature of 
Christ." It is pictured as the inmost temple-Church 
of God, and as "the holy city" — the pure Jerusalem 
Church — for our apostle is always loyal to the old 
Church. It is the Church of God within the univers- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. -445 

al fallen Church — the kingdom of Christ within the 
state-Church of the Eastern Roman empire, and 
within the Church-state of papal Rome. 

The scene changes. The martyr-Church of the 
last 1260 years, is pictured as "two sackcloth wit- 
nesses," "two prophets," "two olive trees, and two 
candlesticks," standing like prime ministers "before 
the God of the whole earth." Two — a long line of 
faithful ministers, and a long line of faithful church 
members — faithful among the faithless — have wit- 
nessed against the great apostasy, during the ages 
of darkness. In the Eastern, and in the Western 
Roman empire, these two long lines of ministerial 
and lay-witnesses, like the two olive trees of Zech- 
eriah's vision, have poured out the golden oil of the 
Spirit in their testimony, and like two golden can- 
dlesticks, they have shed light upon their apostate 
surroundings. Two, in the midst of thousands and 
millions of enemies, they prophesy, with souls in 
sackcloth, and in heroic loneliness, during the long 
ages of anti-Christie darkness, and cruelty. As alt 
preaching is prophecy, predicting man's future des- 
tiny ; these witnesses have "the gift of power," not 
in miracle, but in prophesying, in testimony, and in 
prayer ; and God, who "works in them, both to will 
and to do," makes his word a devouring fire among 
their enemies, withholds "rain," lets loose the war- 
demons of the ages to redden their waters with 
blood, and "smites the earth with all plagues," in 
avenging his unterrified yet dying witnesses. 

And now comes the crisis of their fate. The mar- 
tyr witnesses, of the last 1260 years, "have finished 
their testimony," in the East, and in the West, of 



446 INDIANA METHODISM, 

the Roman world; and a beastly Roman power from 
hell, destroys them, as individuals, and as collective 
bodies, and all the ranks of the great apostasy re- 
joice over the defeat of the reformation. The martyr 
witnesses are pictured as dead, and "their dead 
bodies" are miniatured, as lying ''in the street of the 
great city," which in "spiritual" or mystical phrase, 
is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was 
crucified — that is, in fallen Jerusalem. The secular 
name of the great city is Rome ; for Egypt and Jeru- 
salem were a part of the Roman Empire, and Rome 
was the only great city of John's day, and after- 
wards, ''that reigned over the kings of the earth." 
The nations of the great anti-Christie capitol, are 
miniatured as exposing and dishonoring "the dead 
bodies" of the witnesses, for "three days and a half"; 
and as pouring derision upon them, in demonstra- 
tions of festal joy ; because the}' were "tormented" 
with the testimony of the martyrs against them. 
The three days and a half of exposure, — being the 
half of the sacred seven, which means three years 
and a half, and a "day for a year," — is the 1260 
years of the suffering martyrs, and of their triumph- 
ant anti-Christie foes. 

Again the scene changes. There is a flash of 
millennial glory in the miniature. The 1260 years 
of martyr-sufferings are at an end. "They are seen 
as members of the first soul resurrection, "ascending 
up to heaven," like Enoch and Elijah, and like the 
great conquering man-child of the Church. At last 
their enemies see the true martyrs of Jesus, full of 
"the power of his resurrection," and triumphant in 
heaven. They see the triumph of the warrior-king 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 447 

Messiah over anti- Christ. They see the tenth — ten 
the symbol of universality — of the secular domina- 
tions of Rome, absolutely destroyed. They see the 
number of the slain limited by the divine se\en, 
showing that mercy spares vastly more than Justice 
slays. They behold, and are "affrighted," and con- 
verted, and enter into the glorious millennium. The 
blessed miniature, is but a hint — a small sketch of 
the coming glory. Under the sounding of the sev- 
enth trumpet, we shall have the full portraiture. 
Eternal thanks to God, the dark problem of the 
world, is soon to be solved in the final triumph of 
the right. Dark indeed, has been the problem of 
the Papacy, in the history of the Church, and of 
the world. It has been computed that since the 
rise of the Papacy, fifty millions of persons have 
been put to death on account of religion. "The 
" Papacy persecuted very little during the first half 
of its existence ; but, during the last six hundred 
years, after the witnesses had finished their tes- 
timony, the greater part of the fifty millions have 
been slain." The prophetic outline sketch of the 
struggle of Christ with anti-Christ, with its 1260 
years of persecution and slaughter, has passed into 
history. We see the beginning of the end. The 
last grand Messianic battle comes quickly ; but "in 
wrath he will remember mercy," and the "nations 
not utterly wasted," shall join the "voices" of the ce- 
lestial spaces, and the great shout shall ring through 
earth and heaven, and on the pained ear of hell, — 
"The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom 
of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for 
ever and ever." Here the words of John endeth. 
Ever and always your friend and brother, 

J. W. T. MCMULLEN. 



44S 



INDIANA METHODISM, 



A GODLY MAN. 

Although, in the preceding pages, the name of 
John H. Hull appears in connection with several of 
the incidents narrated, yet in view of his long and 
faithful services — from childhood to advanced age 
— it is deemed proper that a somewhat more extend- 
ed notice of this true man of God should be given. 




Rev. J. H. Hull. 
John Henry Hull, son of Daniel and Sarah Hull, 
was born in Highland County, Ohio, January iSth, 
1818. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 449 

John was converted at a Camp-meeting on Hills- 
borough Circuit, Ohio Conference, in the twelfth year 
•of his age, and now says, "My call to preach, came 
the same day and hour of my conversion to God,' — 
it was at an old fashioned camp-meeting conducted 
by Augustus Eddy, presiding elder, and George W. 
Maley, preacher in charge, the meeting held for six 
or seven days, and registered according to official re- 
port in the conversion of 363 souls. 

The Rev. John Collins licensed the boy to exhort, 
before he was fourteen years of age — he was licens- 
ed to preach at twenty,and when a few months over 
twenty-one was admitted on trial to the Indiana 
•conference held at Rockville in 1838 — Bishop Soule 
presiding. 

His first appointment was to Winchester Circuit 
with F. A. Carey assistant — for the next two years 
he served Muncytown and Marion circuits — in 1841, 
returned to Winchester.and in 1842, again to Muncy- 
town — the next year to Richmond Station — and 
from there to Cambridge City, then to Williams- 
burg, and in 1846 to LaFayette Station one year, 
then Greencastle Station two years — in 1849 and 50, 
two years at Roberts Chapel, Indianapolis. In 185 1 
he was stationed at Centerville one year, and the 
next year again at Richmond. 

After traveling circuits for six years, and laboring 
in stations eight years, he was in 1853 appointe d 
presiding elder of Indianapolis district, where he re- 
mained a full term of four years. 

In 1857 he was stationed at Berry Street Church, 
Ft. Wayne, where soon with broken health, he was 
-compelled to resign his charge and leaving Ft. Wayne, 



45Q INDIANA METHODISM, ' 

settled on a little farm near Tippecanoe Battle 
ground. 

After two years of superannuation he became 
effective, transferred to the Northwest Indiana 
conference in i860, and was appointed to Battle 
Ground Station. In 1861 he was appointed presid- 
ing elder of the LaFayette district, serving a full 
term of four years, followed with three years on 
Indianapolis district, one year on Terre Haute dis- 
trict, — two years on Battle Ground district, and two- 
years, 1 87 1 — 2, on the LaFayette district— twelve 
consecutive years, abundant in labors did he sustain 
the responsible position as presiding elder. 

At the conference of 1873 with health for the sec- 
ond time broken down he was granted a change of 
relation — a release from active labor, which relation 
continued for nine years. At the conference in Val- 
paraiso in 1885, when no suitable man seemed avail- 
able for one of our good stations, Bishop Foss af- 
ter consulting Brother Hull, appointed him to Dan- 
ville station, to which he was again appointed in 
1886. During his second year's pastorate at Dan- 
ville, he was stricken with paralysis and at the con- 
ference held at Greencastle in 18S7, he was for the 
third time granted a release from the active duties 
of a traveling Methodist preacher, which relation 
at this writing (1892) he still sustains and is now in 
the seventy- fifth year of his age. 

John H. Hull is one of natures noblemen — in- 
stinctively a gentleman— by nature, gifted, noble, 
frank, ingenuous, cast in the gospel mould at about 
eleven years of age, with an exhorter's license at 
thirteen — a preacher, with a good wife by his side 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 451 

at twenty — at twenty-one a traveling preacher, the 
trumpet tones of whose voice sent out no uncer- 
tain sound, no marvel that he was loved and hon- 
ored wherever he went. 

In a recent letter from the subject of this sketch, my 
first colleague in Indiana and still much loved friend 
and Brother — alluding to his want of early advan- 
tage in education he says: "Having commenced 
when but a child, I ought to have made more of myself, 
but so it is-I leave all in the hands of a merciful savior, 
who called and sent me out with some natural gifts, 
much saving grace, and almost nothing more— save 
a burning desire to save souls," and then with char- 
acteristic modesty adds — "I would tell you more, 
but I am ashamed to write about myself." For un- 
selfishness in the ministry he is rarely equaled — 
for generosity unsurpassed. As a colleague on the 
circuit these manly traits, were never wanting in his 
plans of work. 

He had even then more than fifty years ago — 
learned the Pauline ethics of esteeming others bet- 
ter than himself. Whenever he saw that any par- 
ticular part of the work, was likely to be especially 
hard or even unpleasant, that he never failed to 
choose for himself — while whatever to him seemed 
easier or more desirable, especially if he thought 
there was in it something like promotion, that he 
never failed to assign to his colleague. If as else- 
where alluded to, the rule of the Indian chief, as 
given to his braves, viz. — "The brave that brings in 
the most scalps is the greatest warrior," be applied in 
a religious sense to John H. Hull — as an expert in 
winning souls to Christ it may well be doubted 



452- INDIANA METHODISM, 

whether any preachers of any church from the broad 
west, will finally have more stars in the crown of 
his rejoicing, than my old friend, brother and for- 
mer colleague. While it may be granted that in the 
estimation of the general public, Brother Hull, as an 
exegete, a learned and able expounder of God's 
word, may not stand as the equal of a Simpson, a 
Berry, or a Hargrave, yet, who shall say — in view of 
his glorious life-work, that the great exceeding and 
eternal reward, which the Master may mete out to 
him, shall not be equal to theirs, or any other of the 
great of earth ? 

If with the call to preach comes the "burning de- 
sire to save souls," underlying and permeating all 
attainments in college or school, of theology, the 
young preacher of to-day ought as a soul winner to 
exceed the boy who went from the plow handle, or 
tailor's shop, to his circuit. Let the youthful theo- 
logical student have all the benefits of mental train- 
ing and intellectual development furnished by the 
schools, yet if he lacks the "One thing needful — a 
burning desire to save souls," whatever he might be 
in some other vocation — as a Methodist preacher 
he is a failure. 

According to Pauline teaching the true minister of 
the Lord Jesus, is not only a preacher rightly dividing 
the word of truth but he is an evangelist — a soul 
winner. What else can Paul the aged mean when 
he says to Timothy "preach the word" — "do the 
work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy minis- 
try." Paul did not wish his student in divinity to 
be able to preach the word only, and then be com- 
pelled to suffer the humiliation of having as a mat- 




REV. C. C. McCABE, D. D. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 4^5 

ter of necessity, to send off for Philip the evangel- 
ist, without whose presence and labors no souls 
could be won to Christ. 

Let it be understood then that in all training of 
the coming Methodist preacher the largest measure of 
success is attainable only by him in whom is united 
the preacher and evangelist — and such only can, as 
Timothy was instructed to do "Make full proof of 
his ministry." With all his training in the schools pre- 
paratory to active service in the full ministry,may the 
Methodist preacher of the future, as in the past, 
know that in the kings service "a burning desire to 
save souls," must be his chief equipment for the post 
of honor, in leading to victory over sin, the advanc- 
ing columns of the conquering army of our God. 

Such a man — excepting the early advantages of 
education — combining the preacher with the evan- 
gelist — and with "a burning desire to save souls" — I 
repeat such a man was and is John H. Hull — now 
waiting and watching for the "Well done thou good 
and faithful servant enter thou into the joys of thy 
Lord." 



REV. C. C. McCABE, D. D. 

Rev. Charles Cardwell McCabe was born at Ath- 
ens, Ohio, October 11, 1836, and is son of Robert 
and Sarah Caldwell (Robinson) McCabe. His great 
grandfather, on the male side, was a native of the 
county of Cavan, Ireland, and descended from Cov- 



456 INDIANA METHODISM, 

enanter stock. His father was a man of noble and 
generous impulses, and was for many years a mer- 
chant and railroad contractor in the West. He 
died in Chicago, in June, 1872, loved and respected. 
His mother was born in England, and came with 
her parents to this country when seven years 
of age. She was a lady of high social position and 
fine literary attainments, whose name was well 
known as a contributor to the Ladies Repository, in 
the earlier days of Ohio Methodism. Her life as a 
Christian was characterized by deep piety and be- 
nevolence, and as a mother, by unceasing devotion 
to the welfare of her children. She died in Bur- 
lington, Iowa, in 1852, in the full assurance of a 
blessed immortality. 

During the first ten years of his life, Dr. McCabe 
was a very delicate child. Indeed during all that 
period, he never passed what might be called a well 
day ; nor was it till his army experience that he at- 
tained to robust and muscular manhood. 

He was educated at the Ohio Wesleyan univer- 
sity, which he entered in 1853, remaining four years. 
After leaving college he taught school for two 
years to pay expenses of his education, his father at 
that time being in straitened circumstances. On 
the 5th of July, i860, he married Miss Rebecca, 
daughter of John Peters, Esq., of Ironton, Ohio, a 
lady well qualified to fill a wife's place in the sphere 
in which her husband moves. They have one son, 
named John Peters; a youth of fine appearance and 
good parts, likely to follow the footsteps of his fa- 
ther. Dr. McCabe entered the ministry the same 
year in which he was married, joining the Ohio con- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 457 

ference of the Methodist Episcopal church. His 
first charge was Putman in that state, where he re- 
mained over a year. In 1862 he entered the army 
as chaplain of the One Hundred and Twenty-second 
Ohio Infantry, Col. Wm. H. Ball, of Zanesville com- 
manding, and followed the fortunes of that regi- 
ment until June, 1863, when, during the raid of Lee 
into Pennsylvania, while with his regiment in the 
defense of Winchester, he was captured by the 
rebel General Early, with others, and sent to Libby 
prison, where he remained four months, his health 
being most seriously impaired by the rigors of the 
incarceration. 

He was exchanged on the 28th of October follow- 
ing. Many thrilling passages might be produced 
from lectures afterwards delivered by him before 
vast audiences on life in that notorious "keep." 

While yet suffering from the effects of his impris- 
onment, and looking more like a galvenized skele- 
ton than a living man, at the request of George H. 
Stuart, of Philadelphia, he delivered many address- 
es in behalf of the "Christian Commission," an or- 
ganization that accomplished untold good on behalf 
of the sick and suffering soldiers. Over $100,000 
were raised for the commission by the efforts of 
"Chaplain McCabe," assisted by John B. Farwell 
and B. F. Jacobs of Chicago; Wm. Reynolds, of 
Peoria, and M. P. Ayers of Jacksonville, 111. It was 
during his visit to Jacksonville, that Jacob Strawn, 
the giant farmer of the West, proposed to give 
$10,000 to the "Christian Commission,"on condition 
that the remaining farmers of Morgan county could 
be induced to give that much more. The condition 



458 INDIANA METHODISM, 

was more than complied with ; Mr. Ayers sending 
on one occasion to George H. Stuart, the sum of 
$23,500, the result often days work in that county. 

After the Chaplain's return to his regiment in the 
spring of 1864, then at Brandy Station, Va., a great 
revival of religion broke out in the brigade to which 
he was attached. 

Meetings were held every night in the open air, 
or in a large tent, and many souls were convert- 
ed to God as the result. Over-exertion in this 
great work brought on a relapse of his former ill- 
ness, and for several weeks he was in a most crit- 
ical condition. A few months, however, found 
him again at his post of duty, where he remained 
until the close of the war, after which he returned 
to the regular ministry of his church, and in the 
autumn of 1865, was placed in the pastoral charge 
of a large congregation at Portsmouth, Ohio. 

Here, within a short time, he secured the erection 
of a fine church at a cost of fifty thousand dollars, 
mainly raised by his own efforts. He was not how- 
ever, permitted to remain long at pastoral work. 

His gifts had fitted him for a broader theater 
of action and a wider field of usefulness. At the call 
of his conference in 1866, he accepted the position of 
Centenary agent, to utilize the enthusiasm pervad- 
ing the Methodist body of Ohio during the cen- 
tenary year of Methodism in America, with a view 
to the endowment of the Ohio \\ 7 esleyan university. 
This position he held for two years with the most 
satisfactory results. In the autumn of 1868 his su- 
perior talents as a financial agent were called into 
requisition in a national enterprise for the extension 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 459 

of the church, and the placing of the society for that 
purpose upon a solid basis. This position he held 
for sixteen years, his headquarters being in Chica- 
go, and traveling not less than twenty -five thous- 
and miles annually in the discharge of his duties. 
His efforts were crowned with marvelous success. 
Besides all his regular work, the care of all the 
(weak) churches, he was mainly instrumental in 
building up a loan "fund" in the treasury of the 
Board of Church extension, which reached the sum 
of $550,000 in cash, which has since been increased 
to $750,000. As long as time lasts will the influence 
of this movement be felt by the church and by the 
nation. It has become a power in the land. It ex- 
tends a helping hand to some struggling church ten 
times each week, and it is the aim of its officers 
to aid two churches each day of the year. In his 
labors in this connection Dr. McCabe has invaded 
the territory of the "Saints." He assumed a debt of 
forty thousand dollars on our church in Salt Lake 
City, and with the help of his thousands of friends, 
raised the money and paid every dollar of it. 

When the Metropolitan church at Washington, D. 
C, was in peril of being sold for debt — at the re- 
quest of Bishop Simpson, Dr. McCabe boldly as- 
sumed the whole debt of $47,000 and called upon the 
church to help him. Every dollar of the debt was 
paid. 

He has also aided in building a church in Salem, 
Oregon, which is by far the finest structure in the 
state, at a cost of forty-five thousand dollars. These 
are the works that constitute his record, and these 
are the labors which shall be his monument when 



460 INDIANA METHODISM, 

the heavens are no more. As a lecturer on popu- 
lar subjects, and especially in behalf of the objects 
of his mission, he has few superiors. His style is 
terse, pungent, and irresistable. His pathos is from 
the heart, and goes directly to the heart. It is the 
logic of human feeling and Christian love. 

His lecture on the "Bright side of life in Libby 
Prison," has been in the greatest demand for many 
years. But, indeed, no place could be without a 
bright side thai was enlivened by the cheering 
presence of Dr. McCabe. 

Like Paul and Silas in the Philippian Prison, he 
and his comrades sang praises at midnight, and the 
prisoners heard them,*a spiritual earthquake shook 
the prison, the Holy Spirit descended and opened 
the prison doors of guilt and fear to many hearts, 
and the spiritual shackles fell from many limbs. In 
view of this aspect of the case, well might he dwell 
upon "The bright side of life in Libby." At the re- 
ception of the news of the victory of Gettysburg, the 
rugged walls of the old dungeon re-echoed the 
strains of the "Battle Hymn" of the Republic, led 
by the Chaplain: 

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. 

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are 

stored, 
He has loosed the fateful lightning of his terribly swift sword, 

Our God is marching on. 

Glory, glory, hallelujah." 

In 1884 the General conference elected Dr. Mc- 
Cabe corresponding secretary of the Missionary so- 
ciety. He immediately raised the cry of "a Million 
for Missions." Many prophesied failure but in 1887 



• SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 46 1 

the church responded to his call by giving $1,044,- 
000 and last year (1891) the cry of a million and a 
quarter was also as Bishop Foss expressed it changed 
from a wail of want to a shout of victory. 

At the General Conference in the City of New 
York in 1888, Dr. McCabe was reelected with an in- 
creased majority ; and for the third time was he 
called to the high position, by the General Confer- 
ence in the city of Omaha in May, 1892, — this time 
his election being practically unanimous. 

Charles C. McCabe has never known failure in 
any thing the Church has given him to do — indeed, 
his success has been phenominal — from Libby Pris- 
on in Richmond Va., to the General Conference in 
Omaha, Nebraska. Should a kind providence spare 
his valuable life till 1896, he will have been "Field 
Marshall," in our great church extension and mis- 
sionary movements for twenty eight years. 

If Moses was forty years in training for leader- 
ship in his day who shall say, that with the advanc- ■ 
ing light and knowledge of the Centuries, that C. C. 
McCabe, in view of his twenty-eight years of dis- 
tinguished services, may not be called by his breth- 
eren to the primacy in Methodism — "Chief among 
equals," in the year of grace 1896. 

' A minority of his friends say, the Church can not 
afford to lose his services in the cause of Missions — 
a large majority of his friends reply, why work a 
man to death, along one particular line simply, be- 
cause he is loyal, willing, and successful. 

If Dr. McCabe will heed the sage advice of "Paul 
the aged," "let your moderation be known," and so, 
not be broken down by over work, before the next 



462 INDIANA METHODISM, 

General Conference, still then, less than sixty years 
of age — ripe in experience, mature in judgment, and 
in every way fitted, as a Scriptural "episcopos" let 
the Church then place him where thousands of 
Methodists, including hundreds of Methodist preach- 
ers, believe he ought to be. 

May the great head of the Church guide in all 
things, for the good of our Zion, and to his Glory. 

Amen. 

J. L. Smith. 



CHARLES N. SIMS. 

Charles N. Sims was born in Union County, Indi- 
ana, near Fairfield, May 18, 1835. His parents, John 
and Irene Sims, were members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, his father being a class-leader for 
many years. He was one of the early contributors 
to the building and endowment fund of Indiana As- 
bury University and in this way his children had 
their attention early directed to this institution of 
higher learning. Charles worked on the farm until 
he was nineteen years old, attending school in the 
winter until he was seventeen and teaching district 
schools during the two following winters. In 1854 he 
entered the preparatory department of Indiana As- 
bury University, boarding himself and doing such 
work as came within his reach for self support while 
in college. In 185/he took charge of Thorntovvn Acad- 




REV. CHARLES N. SIMS, D. D., LL. D. 
Chancellor Syracuse University, N. Y. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 465 

emy, which position he held for three years. Dur- 
ing the time of his principalship here a •new build- 
ing was erected and the number of students increas- 
ed from 120 to 3O0; In 1859 he graduated with the 
degree of A. B. from Asbury University and from 
i860 — 2 was president of the Valparaiso Male and 
Female College. During his stay here a large brick 
building was erected and the institution transferred 
from the former structure in which it was opened to 
the new and more pretentious one built for it. In 
1862 he entered the pastoral work, being two years 
pastor at Richmond, Ind., (1862 — 64) ; one year at 
Wabash, Ind., (1864 — 65) ; two and a half years at 
Evansville, Ind., (1865 — 67) ; two and a half years 
pastor Meridian Street Church, Indianapolis, Ind., 
(1867 — 70) ; three years pastor of Madison Avenue 
Church, Baltimore, Md., (1870 — 73) ; three years 
pastor of St. Pauls Church, Newark.N. J ,(1873—76); 
three years pastor of Simpson Church, Brooklyn, N. 
Y., (18/6—79) ; two years pastor of Summerfield 
Church, Brooklyn, (1879— 8 0- ^ n ! 88o he was elect- 
ed Chancelor of Syracuse University and entered 
upon his duties. in April, 188 1. He has continued 
in this position until the present. 

During his pastorate in Pearl Street, Richmond, a 
great revival occurred, resulting in four hundred 
conversions and extending through a year and a 
half of the pastoral work. He also saw extensive re- 
vivals in every other charge of which he was pastor, 
aggregating for the entire nineteen years over two 
thousand conversions and accessions to the Church. 

The Trinity Church, at Evansville, was completed 
under his ministry; and the Meridian Street Church, 



466 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Indianapolis, began and completed during his 
pastorate. 

He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Di- 
vinity by Asbury University in 1870, and in 18S2 
received from the same institution that of LL. D. 
He was a member of the General Conference of 1884 
and again that of 1888 from the Central New York- 
Conference. He is the author o\"T/ie Temperance 
Problem (1872); "Life of Rev. T. M. Eddy, D. D." 
(1879) ; "Itinerancy Time Limit" (1879) ! ar >d nas 
been a frequent contributor to newspapers and mag- 
azines. Since he has occupied the Chancellorship 
of Syracuse University the institution has grown 
from 300 students to 850 ; from one building to five; 
and the property from $300,000 to a property of 
$i,8oo,coo. He is frequently called into the general 
lecture field, and is known as a successful dedicator 
of churches throughout the country. 

I have known this remarkable man, intimately 
for thirty-five years, and have not failed to watch 
with unflagging interest, his every ascending step, 
from the beginning of his carreer as principal of the 
Thorntown Academy, to his present commanding 
position, as Chancellor of one of the largest and best 
endowed literary institutions in American Method- 
ism. Charles N. Sims never knew failure, nor did 
he ever fall even to mediocrity in anything he under- 
took. 

As Preceptor in earlier life, he was a model — 
the struggling student ever found in Dr. Sims a 
sympathizing friend. As a pastor he was vigilant, 
tender and kind, and much loved among his people/ 
As a preacher the thronging multitudes waited up- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 467 

■on his ministry with profit and delight, and whether 
as teacher or preacher, success attended his efforts 
everywhere. For the last eleven years he has stood 
as the conspicuous head of a great University. 

He might have been Bishop, but like the great 
Wilbur Fisk, he preferred the work of the mental 
and moral training of promising youth, and the 
Chancellorship rather than the Episcopacy. 

Now at life's meridian, and well sustaining his 
justly earned fame, as preacher, pastor, and educa- 
tor, he is, and is likely to continue to maintain for 
years to come, and if possible, with increasing pop- 
ularity, the exalted station he now occupies. 
. May his useful life, long be spared to the Church 
and to the world, for the elevation of humanity — 
the good of the Church and the glory of God. 

J. L. Smith. 



REV. JOHN L. SMITH, D. D. 

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES. 

I first met Dr. John L. Smith in December, 1856, 
at Thorntown, Indiana. I was a college student, 
out of money, hunting a place to teach ; and 
hearing that Thorntown Academy was looking for a 
principal, I armed myself with a few letters of rec- 
ommendation and went in search of the position. 
I found Dr. Smith superintending the building of 
his new residence in the suburbs of Thorntown. A 



468 INDIANA METHODISM, 

fire of blocks and shavings was burning in the fire- 
place and we sat on the carpenter's bench to hold 
our first interview. He inquired carefully about the 
recent rebellion in Asbury University, of which in- 
stitution he was then a trustee. For a half hour we 
talked of the Academy, the University and the edu- 
cational work of Methodism. 

Dr. Smith was then about fifty years old, in per- 
fect health, possessing great physical strength and 
impressed me with his practical wisdom and shrewd- 
ness as well as his devotion to the general interests 
of the Methodist Episcopal church. When I was 
elected principal of the academy and came to 
Thorntown, Dr. Smith welcomed me with cordiality 
and supported me with a sympathy for which I have 
never since ceased to be grateful. He was one of 
the founders of Thorntown Academy, an institution 
to which he gave largely for a man of his means 
and from which he neither expected nor received fi- 
nancial returns. Later he was connected with the 
founding of Battle Ground and Stockwell Collegiate 
Institutes, Valparaiso Male and Female College 
and South Bend Male and Female College. All 
these institutions have ceased to be church schools, 
but all were needed in their day and gave abundant 
return to the church for the money and thought in- 
vested in them. 

In his relation to the Thorntown Academy, Dr. 
Smith was very helpful. He had a tact which was 
wonderful and methods of criticism which amuse me 
yet as I think of them. One of our teachers had a 
fondness for large words. He never spoke of heat 
except as "caloric." He asked me concerning his- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 469 

tory, "Do you prefer to teach it ethnologically or 
synchronologically ?" These are specimens of the 
ponderous words he was accustomed to use in the 
class-room and in ordinary conversation. Dr. Smith 
was invited to deliver a lecture before the students. 
He announced his subject as "Anthropology" and 
read a paper occupying fifteen minutes which must 
have required many hours of searching Webster's 
Dictionary for unusual words. The lecture furnish- 
ed much amusement to the students, and the next 
day my fellow teacher with great seriousness re- 
marked, "That was a very fine lecture of Dr. Smith's, 
but I was almost tempted to think that it was meant 
to give me a hint concerning the use of unusual 
words." 

As a preacher, Dr. Smith was clear, forcible and 
Logical. He had a most excellent command of the 
English, language. As an exhorter he possessed 
unusual power. In the autumn of 1857 he did me 
the kindness to present my name for membership on 
trial in the Northwest Indiana conference. 

His two leading characteristics were force of char- 
acter and strong common sense. He was a faithful 
personal friend and though possessed of an honor- 
able ambition, he always subordinated it to the good 
of a cause. In every business interest of the church 
he was a wise counselor. He had remarkable readi- 
ness of wit and knew just how to meet every emer- 
gency as it arose. He was easily a leader at that 
time in the deliberations of the Annual conference 
to which he belonged. Indeed, I think Dr. Smith 
possessed a genius for leadership. I well remem- 
ber the indignation temperance meetings held in 



470 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Thorntown when the saloons there had become in- 
tolerable ; that in those meetings under the leader- 
ship of Dr. Smith enthusiasm rose to the point of 
revolution and that the saloons which did not close 
voluntarily were sacked and destroyed by disguised 
men moving upon them at midnight. 

My personal estimate of Dr. Smith based upon an 
acquaintance of thirty-five years places him among 
the strong and useful leaders of Methodism in the 
State of Indiana and as having been influential in 
giving wise, practical /direction to church move- 
ments in the days of his activity. I rejoice that in 
his ripe old age he is giving to the church his recol- 
lections of the men and movements of his times. 

C. N. Sims. 
Syracuse, N. Y., April 28, 1892. 



RECOLLECTIONS OF REVEREND JOHN L. 
SMITH, D. D. 

OF NORTHWEST INDIANA CONFERENCE METHODIST 
EPISCOPAL CHURCH BY REV. F. A. HARDIN, D. D. 

I first met Dr. Smith in the Spring of 1845 in the 
village of Dublin, Indiana, in company with Dr., af- 
terwards Bishop Simpson. They were returning 
from Cambridge City where they had dedicated a 
new Methodist church the previous Sabbath. In 
the fall of 1S46 Dr. Smith removed to Dublin, hav- 
ing just been appointed Financial Agent of the In- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 47 1 

diana Asbury university. He was called to that 
difficult and almost hopeless undertaking of provid- 
ing funds to keep the struggling institution in exis- 
tence and to his zeal and efficiency may be ascribed 
the success of that university. 

My attention was drawn to him, however, on ac- 
count of the service he rendered the church during 
the stormy period of the Anti slavery agitation. 
His commanding position brought him more imme- 
diately into contact with the agitators than any one 
man in Methodism in that region. Both friends and 
enemies of the church looked to him and expected 
more from his sayings than they attached to any 
other. Religious Circles were greatly agitated 
growing out of a lecture delivered by one Dr.. Chase, 
who had recently withdrawn from the Methodist 
church, being dissatisfied with her position on the 
slavery question. He had boasted that he would 
destroy the Methodist Episcopal Church and force 
her ministers, whom he styled "dumb dogs," to speak 
out on the Slavery question. Mr. Smith was ap- 
pealed to and readily responded and right nobly 
defended the church against the insinuations of this 
man. A few were swept off in the excitement, 
broke away from their moorings, some of whom 
made shipwreck of faith but most of whom returned 
to the church. The writer recalls vividly how his 
young heart glowed and throbed with delight when 
it was announced that Brother Smith would be at 
home and conduct service. It was the signal for friends 
and foes to repair to the church. He was the oracle 
from whom we hoped to get words of wisdom. There 
were living in the village at that time Rev. J. R. 



472 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Tansey, Pastor, and Rev. W. F. Wheeler, superan- 
nuated member of the conference. Brother Tansey 
was a sweet singer ; Brother Wheeler was a man of 
persuasive eloquence and great in gentleness, while 
Dr. Smith combined the qualities of strength that 
force conviction home upon his hearers. 

Under the united labors of these men a re- 
vival began in the fall of 1846 in which a large num- 
ber were converted. The writer then scarcely fif- 
teen years old came under the power of the awak- 
ening spirit and was joyfully saved. Dr. Smith was 
so rejoiced that he took him in his arms and hove 
him around the altar shouting and praising God. 
From that moment he seemed to link himself into 
sympathy with the boy and has ever since been un- 
flinching in his friendship toward him. Through all 
the peaceful and stormy years,he has never faltered in 
expressions of attachment. Being a man of strong 
friendships he has drawn to him a large circle of 
those who have been regarded devotedly attached 
to him. Being a man of positive character it is not 
strange that he should have made enimies, but he 
never deserted a friend, and, be it said to his credit 
that he never used his official position to oppress an 
enemy. He has been often assailed and sometimes 
even betrayed in the house of his friends, but it 
gives me pleasure to record that though intimately 
associated with him, I have never known him to in- 
dulge in a vindictive spirit. But often to throw the 
mantle of charity over the faults of his erring breth- 
ren. He has not been faultless, but has never 
been insincere. Brother Smith was a born 
leader and in any company would not fail to 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 473 

be recognized as such. He was scrupulous- 
ly faithful in his devotion to church work and 
regarding every measure of importance was unwill- 
ing that any act of a deliberative body that involv- 
ed^the character of the church with which he dis- 
sented should pass unchallenged, and this some- 
times exposed him to the charge of wanting to "run 
things." In social life he never failed to manifest 
the same quality by which he was marked and dis- 
tinguished elsewhere. Possessed of a remarkable 
memory he could recall some factor incident that 
would give point and impart life to the company. 
He despised coarse jokes and. was remarkably free 
from slang. But I have known him to arouse the 
slumbering energies of a whole company by a sin- 
gle suggestion. Once returning from conference our 
engine was ditched. It was night in the month 
of August and was very hot. We were almost de- 
voured by mosquitoes, and had to leave the train 
and raise a smoke in self defense. This gave par- 
tial relief, and many of the company dropped off to 
sleep. We had with us a learned professor from 
the East who fearing a return of the insurgents, 
stood guard over the rest. When all was still, 
Brother Smith called out, "Professor," to which he 
replied, "what is it Brother Smith ?" Brother Smith 
responded, "I would like your opinion of these long 
billed gallinippers," and before the Professor could 
recover Brother Smith said (bringing one hand down 
upon the other utterly demolishing one),"I think they 
are a perfect bore." One can hardly imagine the 
uproar that followed. He was fruitful in expedients. 
When morning came we found we were in a deso- 



474 INDIANA METHODISM, 

late region. There was but one house in sight. It 
was a mere shanty, but Brother Smith suggested 
that even in so humble a place we might find some- 
thing to eat. I went with him and a number of 
other brethren, on my first foraging expedition. 
On entering the house, so small that we completely 
filled it, it was suggested by the brethren that we 
retire, but Smith called out "hold on," and address- 
ing the lady said, "We are Methodist preachers re- 
turning from conference, have been up all night.with 
nothing to eat, and came to see if you could provide 
something." She replied, "We have nothing, but a 
few chickens, dressed for the market," with which 
her husband hoped to procure meal and coffee, we 
were welcome to them if we could wait until she 
cooked them. Whereupon he replied "Chickens ? 
are what we want ? sliver them up and slap them 
on," which she did with the utmost haste. As an 
interested observer I can testify that our record as 
chicken eaters was not broken that day. As a 
splendid conclusion to Brother Smith's stroke of 
diplomacy, he proposed a collection, which when tak- 
en and passed over to the good lady with thanks, 
brought the first expression from her husband, (a 
silent observer up to this momentjin which he said, 
(pointing to the saucer filled with coin) "that is 
more money than I have ever seen together before 
at one time." It was my pleasure to meet Brother 
Smitli at the last session of the Annual conference 
in South Bend, Indiana, where I had the pleasure 
of seeing him elected at the head of his delegation 
to the General conference of 1892, almost on the 
identical spot where the writer had the pleasure of 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. '47^ 

casting his first vote for him as a delegate just forty 
years before. The incidents of his retirements from 
active work will never be forgotten by those who 
were privileged to attend this session of his confer- 
ence He rose to read his fifth report as presiding el- 
der of Valparaiso district. To his more intimate 
friends he had signified his intention to ask the bishop 
to relieve him and the conference to place him on the 
superannuated list. His report was full, complete 
and comprehensive, and showed a marked intimacy 
with everv department of church work. But the climax 
was reached when he came to matters personal. He 
recounted his experience in the ministry, bypassing 
rapidly over his different positions, the stormy and 
peaceful pilgrimage,-the sunshine and shadow,- 
and the few men now in the ministry, who were act- 
ive when he began, and expressed the pleasing sat- 
isfaction of conscious peace with God. And now 
that he was about to surrender to the infirmities of 
age and lay aside his armor, he had unfailing love 
for the church, he had served through fifty-one 
years, and unfaltering faith in the ultimate triumph 
of the kingdom of Christ. He had nothing but for- 
giviness in his heart for all who had wronged him 
and expressed the hope of an early meeting with the 
loved of other days. Before he had time to resume his 
seat the brethren rushed from every part of the house 
-with tearful eyes andkindly expressions offnendly 
sympathy, congratulated him on the happy termina- 
tion of an active ministry, covering more years, than 
most of them had lived. Bishop Ninde was quite 
overcome at this unlocked for but splendid conclu- 
sion of an active ministry, reaching through the 



4/6 INDIANA METHODISM, 

most trying period of the church's history. 

As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form, 
Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm, 
Though round its l>reast the rolling clouds are spread, 
Eternal sunshine settles on its head. 



NORTHERN INDIANA. 

As already stated in another part of this work, 
the author of these pages was appointed presiding 
elder of the La Porte district in 1850. Remaining 
on the district four years, he became acquainted 
with many interesting families in and out of the 
church, from Mishawaka on the east to the Illinois 
line on the west. Among the more active members 
of the church at Mishawaka were George Milburn, 
Brother Merrifield, and good Sister Griffin, whose 
name has before been mentioned. 

South Bend, in 1850, was a small village. The 
leading families of the place, identified with the 
Methodist church, were the Samples, the Tutts, the 
Brownfields, the Greenes, the Bakers, the Stovers, 
and the Whittens. 

Mother Currier,a great woman, lived in the village 
of Terre Coupee, as also the Hubbards, and Paul 
Egbert, a local preacher. 

At New Carlisle lived Brother Alanson Pidge, a 
local preacher.blessed with a superior wife and good 
children. The Laytons, and many other good peo- 
ple, also lived at or near New Carlisle. 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 477 

Many of the grand people of that day at La Porte 
have heretofore been referred to. Brother Abbott, 
who hauled the presiding elder's goods from LaFay- 
ette to LaPorte, is still living, venerable with age 
and highly esteemed. 

Among the membership at Door Village was 
Jacob R. Hall, a most excellent man, whose honor- 
ed sons now reside in the city of LaPorte. Thomas 
Sale, son of the Rev. John Sale, of precious memory, 
worshipped at Door Village; as also the Keiths, the 
McClellans, the Aliens, and others. At other points 
on Union circuit were the Robertsons, the Warnocks, 
the Harrises, the Hentons,the McClures,and Mother 
Benedict. 

At Valparaiso, then a straggling village, lived G. 
Z. Salyer, and his excellent wife. Brother Salyer 
died many years ago. Mrs. Salyer still survives,the 
only one left of the charter members of the Valpa- 
raiso class, — a class organized by the Rev. W. J. 
Forbes in 1840. The children of Brother and Sister 
Salyer were Don A., Elizabeth, Charlotte, Winfield, 
and Emmett. The Salyer home was called the 
"Methodist Hotel," of Valparaiso. Under the hos- 
pitable roof of this "hotel" the writer spent his first 
night in the town (now city) of Valparaiso. 

Azariah Freeman was one of the California "forty- 
niners." He and his family were among the earlier 
settlers of Valparaiso. Brother Freeman was a 
noble man, and Sister Freeman was an helpmeet in-- 
deed. They raised two daughters to be grown. 
The elder daughter is the wife of our respected fel- 
low-citizen, Milan Cornell ; the younger is the wife 
of Brother J.W.Hollett. These daughters, with their 



47§ INDIANA METHODISM, 

families, all highly respected, still remain in the city, 
while Brother and Sister Freeman have gone to their 
reward in heaven. 

One of the leading citizens of the county, as well 
as one of the most active members of the Valparaiso 
church was Sylvester W. Smith. He raised a large 
and highly respected family. Brother Smith was 
called to his better home above, several years ago. 
His widow, a devoted Christian, still survives as one 
of the pioneer Methodists of Valparaiso. Rev.G.M. 
Boyd was pastor of the Valparaiso church at the 
time of Brother Smith's death. He prepared a brief 
biography of the departed brother, in which he said, 
"I never knew a better man than Sylvester Smith." 
The writer concurs in that statement. 

The cultured daughters and honored sons of Broth- 
er and Sister Smith have fallen heir to a rich heri- 
tage of precious memories from their devoted par- 
ents. 

Mother Hicks, as she was usually called, must not 
be forgotten in this connection. She was one of the 
best women of Valparaiso. Honorable mention 
must also be made of her accomplished daughter, 
Mrs. Dougall, widow of Captain Dougall, who lost 
his life on Lake Michigan by the sinking of a steam- 
er on which he had shipped as commander. Not 
only Mrs. Dougall, but all the children of the now 
sainted Mother Hicks, have honored their parents 
by upright and honorable lives. 

The Hon. John N. Skinner, deceased was a re- 
markable man. He was probably never surpassed 
as a Sunday-school superintendent. He was also 
active as one of the founders and supporters of the 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 479 

Valparaiso M. & F. College. His fellow-citizens re- 
peatedly elected him Mayor of the city of Valparai- 
so. His widow.one of the best of Christian women, 
is an active worker in the church. She organized 
and still superintends what is known as the Valpa- 
raiso mission ; holds regular Sunday school and 
other weekly services ; gathers and distributes half- 
worn clothing, and other things needed among the 
poor ; is doing, to express it briefly, a grand work 
among a class of people rarely represented in 
church congregations. The sons and daughters of 
John N. and Joanna Skinner are taking their places 
among the most active, useful, and respected citi- 
zens of Valparaiso. One of the sons, Hubert M., is 
an Alumnus of DePauw University. 

Another grand woman in the Valparaiso church, 
who has also gone to her reward, must here be nam- 
ed — Mrs. Emily Skinner, the mother of the Hon. 
DeForest Skinner. Sister Emily Skinner was a de- 
voted Christian woman, and highly endowed intel- 
lectually. She was a good writer ; as for culture and 
refinement she had few, if any, superiors in the city. 

On Twenty Mile Prairie lived the brothers, Walk- 
er and William McCool, who were prominent citi- 
zens of Porter County and highly respected mem- 
bers of the Methodist church. 

Brother Thomas Fifield was one of the best men 
I have ever known. He lived near the McCools.and 
worshiped at what was known as the Twenty-mile 
Grove church. After a long and useful life, he died 
a few years ago at the home of his son-in-law and 
daughter, Brother and sister Beach, and was buried 
from the Methodist church of Valparaiso. 



480 INDIANA METHODISM, 

Crown Point. — Here lived from 1850 to 1854 
Brother Allman, a local preacher. He was a native 
of Yorkshire, England ; a man of deep piety, and 
respectable preaching talents. He died happy in 
the Lord. Rev. Daniel Crumpacker was also a 
prominent citizen of the town; he and most of his 
family have gone to their final home. The elect 
lady, Sister Wood, One of the early settlers of Lake 
county, deserves honorable mention. She still 
lives to bless the church and all that come within 
the sphere of her Christian influence and example. 

Solon Robinson, proprietor of the town of Crown 
Point, was said to be a disbeliever in the Christian 
religion. He determined, from the beginning, it is 
said, that no church or any form of religious worship, 
should ever be established in the town, if he could 
prevent it ; that he sought in every possible way, to 
"rule in" the wicked of all classes, and to "rule out," 
from settlement in his town, any and all that were 
disposed to favor the Christian religion. After per- 
suing that line of policy for some time, he became 
convinced that his plan was impracticable. Re- 
ligion or no religion he must have a town ; so, as 
the account goes, and it seems to be well authen- 
ticated, when he found that his town-building en- 
terprise must inevitably fail if he persisted in his 
anti-religion policy, he came to a certain Methodist 
preacher, the Rev. Wade Posey, who was then in 
charge of a circuit that included a part of Lake 
county, and, addressing the preacher, said : "I 
have tried my best to build up a town here without 
churches, bibles, Sunday-schools, or religion ; and, 
while I am as firm an unbeliever in the Christian re- 



SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS. 48 1 

ligion as I ever was, I see that the people generally 
like to be duped or scared about the future, clinging 
to the ghosts and hobgoblins of religion ; and that 
I will have to change my tactics or Crown Point 
will never grow." He then handed Brother Posey 
fifty dollars, saying"Here, I wantyou to take this,and 
buy aSunday school library.and start aSunday school. 
I am also ready to help you build a church, as I am 
satisfied I can never make a town here without re- 
ligious people and churches." Crown Point now, 
1892, has several good churches, and a large num- 
ber of devoted Christian people. The town is rap- 
idly becoming one of the handsomest little cities in 
Northwestern Indiana. The effects of Mr. Robin- 
son's skeptical teachings may, in some degree, yet 
remain among some of the older people, but has, it 
is to be hoped, but little influence on the rising gen- 
eration. When all the unbelievers go hence, or be- 
come soundly converted to God, Crown Point will 
be a very desirable place to live in. 

Again I must refer to Valparaiso. Not least 
among the many attractions of this beautiful city 
are its educational advantages. The city schools 
under the efficient superintendency of Professor 
Banta, are among the best in the state. 

The great Northern Indiana Normal with an av- 
erage attendance of two thousand students, is the 
largest college of the kind in the United States. 
The school is under the management of Profs. Brown 
and Kinsey, assisted by an able corps of teachers. 
Prof. Heritage, one of the finest vocalists in the 
country, is at the head of the music department. 
The school, in all its departments, was never in a 



482 INDIANA MEIIHODISM. 

more prosperous condition than at the present 
time. 



As I now come to write the last word of this 
volume in the eighty-second year of my age, my 
heart thrills with the tender recollections of the past 
and the glorious hopes of the future. 

With fond affection I cherish the memory of my 
brethren in the ministry.especially those of the older 
life; and not forgetting my own youth, I may be per- 
mitted to say to my younger brethren in the lan- 
guage of an ancient king, "Let not him that gird- 
eth on his harness boast himself as he that putteth 
it off." J. L. S. 

Valparaiso, Ind., 

Sept. 21, 1892. 



School the Entire Year. Students May Enter at Any Time. 



The Northern Indiana Normal School, 



BUSINESS INSTITUTE, 

VALPARAISO, - - - I3VDIAWA, 

Opened Its 92nd Session August 30th, 1992. 

THE INSTITUTION NOW MORE POPULAR than ever enters upon the 
work of the new year under the most encouraging circumstances. 

FROM THE HEGINN1NG OF THE SCHOOL, whatever may have been 
the criticisms offered, no one who has become acquainted with it has ever doubted the 
thoroughness of the work done in the Class-room. Specialists as instructors have been 
employed for each department. The result of this Careful Work is that it now is 

The Largest Normal School in the United States. 

OWING TO THE RAPID GROWTH of the School, it has often been im- 
possible for the proprietors to provide just such accommodations as they desired. 

THIS DIFFICULTY IS NO W OVERCOME, ample accommodations have 
been provided. 300 additional suites of rooms have been erected, 

A S8-IEXV- COIiLE&E BTTIIiI>IWGr 
Has been erected. It was dedicated May 10th, 1892. His Excellency, GOV. IRA 
J. CHASE delivered the principal address. It was an able effort, well worthy the dis- 
tinguished gentleman. HON. II. D. VORIES, State Superintendent of Public Instruction 
of this State, delivered a brief but very pointed address. 

The building is a large and commodious one. The first floor is arranged especially for 
Science Work. The Laboratory is one of the most thoroughly equipped found at any School. 
The entire second floor is used for a Chapel Hall. It is seated with 2041 Opera Chairs, a 
Grand Concert Knabe Piano is on the Rostrum. The buildiug is lighted by gas and elec- 
tricity, and is heated by three large furnaces. 

IVIE-W- DEFADaTBIEWTS for tlxe> Comiixg Tear. 

A COMPLETE COURSE IN PHARMACY. This is in charge of A. E. 
HISS, Ph. G., late instructor in the Chicago School of Pharmacy. 

A COURSE IN PEDAGOGY, now very complete, will be made more extensive. 

A COMPLETE COURSE IN KINDERGARTEN WORK, both Theo- 
retical and Practical. 

No new department is introduced until it can be made one in fact as well as in name. 

iDErE'.&.rESTlLv'EEnicrTS : Preparatory, Teachers, [Including Kin- 
dergarten Work, Teachers Class and Pedagogy], Collegiate, [in- 
cluding Scientific, Classical and SelectCourse], Civil Engineering, 
Pharmacy, Special Science, Elocution, Music, Fine Art, Commer- 
cial, Phonography and Type- Writing, Penmanship, Telegraphic 
and Review. 

^T°No other School offers, for One Tuition, Anything like as Many 
Subjects from which to Select. 

Expenses Less Than at Any Other School. 

Tuition, $io per term. Good board and well furnished rooms, $1.70 to 
$1.90 per week. 

{^"Catalogue mailed Free, Address, 

H. B. BROWN, Principal, 

Or O. P. KINSEY, Associate Prin. 

CALENDAR :-FALL TERM will open August 30, 1S92; FIRST 
WINTER TERM will open November 8, 1892; SECOND WINTER 
TERM will open January 17, 1893; SPRING TERM will open 
March 28, 1893; SUMMER or REVIEW TERM will open June 6, 
1893. 



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